Don't Tell Anyone, But
by drinktea
Summary: A rattled Riku Harada needs someone to talk to. So she confesses her most scandalous secrets to a handsome almost stranger. But little does she realize he's more than that. A lot more. AU. DarkRiku.
1. Showstopper

_Disclaimer: I am in no way trying to jack Sugisaki-sensei up. That is all._

**

Don't Tell Anyone, But...

**

Sakura-Angel: Helloooooo again! After like, the long hiatus EVER, I'm back! And with more Riku and Dark for everyone! Exciting, ain't it? So anyways, this is supposed to be a multi-chapter and yadda yadda, but I have a hard time with those because I'm a bum and I lose interest quickly. So keep me excited about this one, people! Because, believe me, I have some interesting things in store with this one, oh yes I do. 

Dark: And she's dragged me in to do this again, so don't miss me! 

Sakura-Angel: I'm sure they won't, sweetie. 

-------- 

She walked at a pace faster than was nessecary, heels clacking evenly against the concrete. Her heart thumped erratically, heavily behind her ribcage, and she crossed her arms over her torso, hoping to confine it so it wouldn't leap out of her chest. Her blood felt like it was flowing slower than usual with the cold weather and her unwilling heart. She had a vague thought that she shouldn't be walking this fast with a body that didn't want to, but her body had never listened to her mind very well. It's how she ended up in this mess anyway. 

Her heart leaped a bit higher at the thought of who she was meeting, and she felt disgusted at her childlike eagerness immediately. She hated it that she couldn't help it. She felt it brewing in the pit of her stomach, the deadly mixture of knowing what would happen and the hope that it wouldn't. It snaked up her spine and through her ribs and gripped her heart tightly, and this is what she suspected was making it pump so slowly. 

"Oh please oh please oh please," she thought, and pulled open the door to Lao's, a funny little Chinese restaurant where the lights were blinding and the food was devoured fast. 

She looked around subtly, tried calming her crazy heartbeat, and tried to breathe properly all at once. He wasn't here. _'Okay, no problem. Just sit down at a table and everything will go from there,'_ she assured herself. She plopped down in a chair quickly, a rush of blood going to her head. 

"Can't sit there!" An accented voice yelled out. 

It took her awhile to realize the man had been bellowing at her, and she stood up, receiving another head rush, and stumbled. She fell clumsily onto the floor, wishing that an incredibly attractive, mysterious man with gorgeous eyes had been there to catch her like in all the movies. No such luck. 

"Riku, what are you doing on the floor?" A voice cut through the clamour with an I-can't-believe-you're-so-clumsy/Oh-I-feel-so-sorry-for-you tone. The being extended a hand towards her. 

"Krad!" She immediately berated herself for sounding so happy and took his hand, heartbeat still erratic. "Thanks." 

"Yeah, yeah," he dismissed as he pulled her up. He beckoned over a waiter at the same time, who was right in the middle of taking tea to a table. The waiter motioned for him to wait and he scowled fiercely. "Stupid waiters and their crap service," he mumbled. 

"Mm," came Riku's autopilot response. It was then that, while brushing the dirt off her skirt, she noticed the incredibly half-skeptical, half-amused looking man standing next to Krad. He was wearing baggy off-white pants with an amazing number of pockets, a belt which he had looped his thumb relaxedly around, a black muscle shirt - which, by the way, she had not thought were accurately named until the moment she saw him - with some sort of radical design blazed on the side, and a string necklace with a wooden charm hanging off the end. _'Definetely, definitely one of his friends.'_

"Um, hello?" 

She snapped out of the half-daze she didn't even know she was in. "What?" It was then she realized that the wooden-string necklace and had-to-be-custom shirt were much closer to her than they were originally. She blinked and looked up. 

He chuckled and looked at her quizically. "You all right?" 

"Oh, so sorry," she berated herself more for messing up the first meeting she'd ever had with one of her boyfriend's friends. "I was just a little dazed." 

"I could tell," he said, sounding even more amused than before. He looked over his shoulder at Krad, busy cussing out the waiter. 

"I'm Riku. Riku Harada," she stuck out her hand, expecting him to shake it and instead receiving a gentle brush of his lips. 

"Charmed," he replied, standing up again. 

Riku could feel herself blushing, even though she tried to quelch it with thoughts like _'I can't believe guys still do that'_ and _'What slime'_. She knew it wasn't going to work though. 

"Move overrrrrr!" the stocky manager bulldozed his way through the pair, momentarily surprising the both of them. "Why standing in restaurant like frozen?" he sounded genuinely stressed as he headed outside. 

She blinked, punctuating her surprise, and returned to Dark. "Thank you for that..." 

"Dark," he supplied. 

"Dark. But I'm sure I can't have charmed you with my case of ADD," she smiled a frail smile. 

He smiled and his eyes lit up, knowing now for sure that she wasn't your ordinary girl, but Riku couldn't see that. All she could see was a spark, some sort of twinkle she couldn't place in those red depths. She saw his hair, light purple and just casually wild enough so that she could tell he didn't gel it. It looked soft in fact, and it fell aronud his face gracefully. Right then, he looked... amazing. 

But what? Wait. She had Krad. Yes. Her heart was leaping today at the thought of him, right? Right. So much that she was disgusted, right? Right. And even though she had that impending feeling that he was going to dump her, she still liked him for some reason, right? Right. On top of it all, she was here for Krad, not Hot Guy. Wait. That was certainly _not_ his name. She forgot it already. Oh God, she was already so used to calling him 'That Hot Guy' in her mind that she'd actually forgotten his real name. And she'd just said his name ten seconds ago. 

"Hey Riku! Dark, could you call her over," Krad called. 

_'Right. Dark.'_ She thought, without actually making a move towards Krad. 

"Hello? Ms. Self-Proclaimed-Case-of-ADD?" Dark waved a hand in her face and motioned smoothly towards a table. "Your table awaits." 

"Right," she said, snapping back to life. "Thank you, Dark," she made sure she said his name, certain that she'd remember it if she said it at least more than once. 

He looked amusedly at her for what seemed like the millionth time, and turned to make his way out. "Nice meeting you, Riku." 

"Nice meeting you too," and she looked after his retreating back a fraction of a second longer than she should have. 

"Hey, I'm over here, y'know," Krad said a little jokingly, a little not. 

She turned around to face her boyfriend, possibly soon-to-not-be-boyfriend, and sat down. She expected to feel a wave of dread wash over her at the realization of his probably dumping her, but she instead felt nothing. And before she knew it -- "I'm breaking up with you." 

"What?" Krad's eyes widened. 

She had just stunned herself, but somehow managed to put sentences together. "I'm breaking up with you. I can't stand the way you look at other women all the time or how you're so neglectful. You never call me for the sake of calling and you never do anything romantic." 

The waiter came just that moment to pour the tea, but upon hearing Riku's statements and seeing the growing mix of shock and resentment on Krad's face, he did a 180. 

"... You're a bad boyfriend, Krad. I hate it that I've liked you enough to put up with it, but now I've decided that it's just not going to work." 

His mouth moved but words weren't coming out with the usual ease. "I- yo- whe-," he stuttered, overcome with shock. She was glad that she was the one making him feel like this now, as spiteful as it was. 

"It doesn't matter. I'm sorry Krad. Maybe you'll learn something." 

And she stood up and walked out, heartbeat finally, _finally_ normal again. 

-------- 

Sakura-Angel: Sooooo? Tell me how I did. Haven't written anything in awhile, and this came out in about an hour and a half. 

Dark: Can you tell completely? 

Sakura-Angel: Oh... hush. 


	2. Intoxicated

_Disclaimer: None of the copyrighted things mentioned in this chapter belong to me. Oh yes, DN Angel and it's yummy bishounen do not belong to me either (legally anyway XD)._

**

Don't Tell Anyone, But...

**

Sakura-Angel: Chapter two! The _basic_ turn-out of this chapter is inspired by Sophie Kinsella's _Can You Keep A Secret?_. Man, I love that book.

Dark: In other news, to make up for the very unfunny amount of time it took for Sakura to upload this chapter, she's made it quite long.

Sakura-Angel: Yes. Longer than my usual anyway. Enjoy! (Hopefully!)

--------

It didn't last as long as she would've liked.

That wasn't to say she thought it would last longer - wanting it to and believing it would were completely different things - but she really, _really_ would've liked it if it held up at least until she got through the door of the coffee shop.

That was when it started beating spastically against her will, and she did not like it in the least that the reason it was probably doing that was the man sitting by the window.

The Hot Guy. Dark.

"Riku!"

She turned towards the counter to see who had called her name, and to her dismay, so did Dark.

"Risa!" Riku waved to her sister, part-time barista. "How are you?" and she strode over, trying to ignore the fact that Dark was most definitely, definitely watching her by now.

"Hey sis," Risa smiled perkily, so much like her. "I'm great, I've got something to tell you!" The excitement in her voice seemed to betray her secret.

Okay, he just had to have stopped looking at her like she was the stupidest person on the planet and he was some sort of researcher by now, right? Maybe she could check... subtle turn...

"You wanna guess what it is?" Risa chirped happily, walking out from behind the counter and stopping Riku from carrying out her plan simultaneously.

She racked her brain, trying to think back to any conversation she'd had with Risa in the past month, but her sister was too excited to keep it to herself.

"Ohmygod! I got a real job!" She squealed, and every customer turned to look at her either angrily or amusedly, while the other employees just looked at her angrily. "Sorry," she tried to feign an apologetic expression, but she was too happy to do even that.

"No way!" The older twin squealed in return, thoughts of Dark and irregular heartbeats completely erased. "You got it?"

Risa nodded, eyes closed and imagining herself at her future job. "Yup. I'm starting next week. Can you imagine it? Risa Harada, Assistant Buyer."

"Risa! I'm so happy for you!" And Riku tackled her sister with a hug, one of the very few, truly sister-y moments they'd ever had.

"I know! It's going to be so great, 'Ku." Risa hugged her back, eyes closed all the while in bliss. "But that's not to say this place was nothing. I did learn how to make a pretty awesome iced caramel macchiato," and she grinned in that charming way of hers, finally opening her eyes and catching a glimpse over her sister's shoulder. She suddenly pulled the both of them closer to the window, and Riku knew right away that her sister was up to something. Even her walk was conspiratory.

"Don't look now, but there's a completely gorgeous guy checking you out," Risa nodded excitedly and none too subtly in Dark's direction.

Riku wanted to bang her head against the wall, but decided to take a different route. "How do you know he wasn't looking at you?"

The younger (and more boy savvy) twin sighed, as if disappointed with how ignorant her sister was. "I just know, okay? Call it a sixth sense. Go talk to him! He looks..." she trailed off, wondering what to say. Smart? Sporty? Perfect For You? She settled on: "... like a hunk."

Riku laughed involuntarily. "'Hunk'? I haven't heard anyone my age say that until now."

"You're avoiding the man at hand, go talk to him! He looks worth it," and she winked mischeviously at her sister and walked behind the counter.

"Make me one of those macchiatos while you're back there!" Riku said loudly to her sister's back, and recieved a wave of recognition.

Now, what to do? If she didn't go over and at least say hi it'd be a bit strange, wouldn't it? They _had_ just seen each other and everything, and they'd just met, so it was basically obligatory to go over and say something stupid like "Fancy seeing you here."

"I'm not surprised, to be honest," a smooth voice said.

Riku blinked stupidly. Wait, had she _actually_ just _said_ that? Had _he_ actually just said that?

She must've shown the befuddlement on her face because he gave her another one of his amused looks and said, "Do you really want to know why I'm not surprised?"

Riku was still getting over how her basic motor skills seemed to completely dissolve into mush around this man, and managed a very intelligent "Huh?"

He blew air out his nose amusedly and shook his head. "Why don't you sit?" He stuck out his chin a bit towards the seat opposite him.

She pulled the chair out jerkily, hitting her shin in the process and muttering a quiet curse.

It didn't help that the entire time she was struggling with the chair, and now her growing bruise, Dark's incredibly intensely coloured eyes followed her every movement. What was with this guy, really? She wasn't _that_ interesting, was she? She didn't think she merited a second glance, much less the full attention of a... hunk. Her cheeks almost heated up at the thought, but she focused her attention on her blooming bruise instead, sticking out her leg from beneath the table, flustered.

His eyes fell on her leg as soon as she stuck it out, and she was unnerved.

"That looks like it hurt," he commented, looking through a few strands of his hair at her.

"Oh well, you know those chairs, always looking to injure you!" _'Stupid._ Stupid.' She kicked herself for saying something so idiotic in front of him.

"Don't I know it," he grinned at her. He then lifted his left pant leg, revealing a bruise in the exact same spot.

She laughed appreciatively - how likely was that? - but what she was really wondering was why his legs were hairless.

He cut her off, but not harshly. "You're wondering why my legs are shaved, aren't you?" And he looked at her knowingly, with a smidgen of amusement, since it was always how he looked at her.

Her mouth hung open and she averted her eyes to the street outside, hoping she could yell at some random and ask for the money she lent them, speed out of the shop, and hurriedly explain to them that she wasn't a maniac, she was just extremely nervous around this guy, especially since he was sauve, intimidating and very possibly perfect. "Uhhh... how could you tell...?"

"It's in your eyes."

It took her awhile to register what he was saying, even though it was a mere four words. Well, five if you considered 'it's' to be 'it is', but really, why get so caught up in technicalities? Especially when a man was staring straight into your eyes like you belonged in a padded room.

"They're shaved because I'm a swimmer."

She blinked. His eyes were red. _Very_ red. Now that was different. She wondered if anyone else in the entire world had red eyes, even his parents. She wondered what his parents looked like. They were probably gods and he was probably a real-life Hercules, fallen from Mount Olympus or whatever it was called, only his power was to unnerve women who are not usually unnerved by men.

"You're not listening to anything I'm saying, are you?" he chuckled teasingly, disarming her yet again.

She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice failed her. Again.

"You might want to get that confirmed, that probable case of ADD," and he winked a red eye at her, smiling all the while.

"I was listening!" she protested. "Eyes... swimming..."

He just laughed again, and took a sip of his tea. Wait. He drank tea? She didn't know a single guy who drank tea.

"Of course you were, Riku. Of course," he placed emphasis on the last 'course'.

Her mind was on melt. She couldn't think of anything witty or funny to say in response and she might've had a mini-breakdown right there... was it not for Risa suddenly having arrived with her macchiato.

"Here you are, Riku," she chirped politely, eyes bright.

She never realized before how much she loved her sister.

"Thanks Risa!" her thank-you coming out happier than she'd heard it in her mind. She was also thanking her sister for coming over instead of just calling her or having someone else come over. Since they were twins, it always gave someone the opportunity to point out the obvious fact that they were identical twins, fueling their conversation for at least another five minutes.

Risa shot the 'you owe me' look her sister's way and replied, "No problem, sis!" and walked off.

"So you still want to hear why I wasn't surprised you showed up?" Dark leaned across the table, focusing completely on her.

What? He was supposed to say "Hey, she looked exactly like you! Are you twins?" and they were supposed to carry it from there, talking about where they grew up and what their jobs were...

But she shook it off, accepting that there had to be a first for everything. Dark was just different. "I do, actually."

Dark smiled, as if surprised that she actually said something this time. "You're not going to like it though."

"Try me," she smiled at him across the table, giving him her attention in return.

He gave a mock sigh, and looked at her with half-lidded eyes and raised eyebrows. "Do you believe in fate?"

Her brow creased. As flattering as it was that he was saying this... he wasn't going to try any cheesy romantic shit now, was he? If he was then he was the most confusing person in the universe. "No, I don't."

"Good. Neither do I," he laughed openly. "It's definitely not that."

A smile broke out on her face and she closed her eyes, thanking goodness that he hadn't said anything conventionally stupid. "Then what do you think it was?"

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, balancing precariously on the back legs with his legs crossed and his hands entwined behind his head. How did he do that? "I think... it was the horrible match that was you and my dear friend Krad that brought you to break up. You came here for some comfort coffee and very possibly a chat with your sister."

How _did_ he do that? She was actually looking for someone to talk to, and a good drink of some kind always helped her after she got through something hard, break up or not.

"Am I right?" he was suddenly leaning on the table, looking at her with the straightest face she'd ever seen.

"Y-yes," she stuttered. But immediately realization hit her. "How could you tell we were at that point?"

He looked at her over his tea, eyebrow raised in a way that she now knew was one of his trademarks. "What point?"

"The 'crap-we-don't-like-each-other-anymore' point?"

He smiled at her knowingly, but not overly so that it was condescending. "As I said, it was in your eyes," he replied, and she couldn't help but hear a little mystery and intimacy in his voice. But that was probably her imagination.

"Am I really that easy to read?" She asked, genuinely wanting to know, looking into his eyes. She had a fleeting thought that they were colour of wine, and she could get drunk off them.

"No," he said immediately, but not out of eagerness, "I'm just a very good reader," and he smirked at her, taking another sip of tea.

"Modest too," and she smirked right back.

This was going swimmingly. It was really, truly, the best conversation she'd ever had with a near stranger. She felt relaxed enough to say more than the bare minimum.

"You know, when I was little, I was told I could've been a psychologist because I read people well," she said casually, but brightly.

"Really now," what should've been more of a question came out as a statement. "I bet I could give you a run for your money."

She looked up from her macchiato at him and uncrossed her legs. Her elbows were on the table. "Then tell me something about myself," she challenged.

"You don't own a car. You hate rap. And... you pretend to not know how to play cards, but you're a fiend at every game in existence," he looked up at her, eyes sparking with mischief. He was half-smiling, half-smirking. "Am I right?"

She kept herself from gaping at him by firmly planting her hand underneath her chin. _'How the hell... there has to be a logical explaination.'_ "Krad just told you all those things, didn't he?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "I didn't even know he had a girlfriend until today... and now he doesn't have one, does he?"

"Right," she didn't expect to feel so hurt at him bringing Krad up again, but she was. For some reason, now that she had nothing to be nervous over (talking to Dark and erratic heartbeats) she felt some guilt and sadness lightly cloak itself over her mood.

"You okay?" the voice came to her from far away.

She tried nodding because she didn't feel like talking suddenly, but her hand beneath her chin wouldn't let her. So she cleared her throat and rasped an unconvincing "Yes," and continued thinking about Krad, Dark's "Are you sure?" gone completely unheard.

Today was so surreal. The walk to the restaurant didn't feel real, the breakup didn't either, and now this conversation. Her ever-shifting mood complimented it all, like the dressing on a tossed-too-much salad. With this realization she moved her hand from beneath her jaw, and instantly words spilt forth.

"He never called me just because he could, did you know that?" She barely caught his expression, disapproval and disappointment flashing through his face for a second, and returning to normal. He was about to open his mouth to reply, but she kept on talking.

"I just felt so stupid, through all the birthdays and Valentine's... how did I not see it? How could I not tell he was only half there?"

Dark considered saying something consoling, but he knew that when a woman wanted to talk, you respected her and let her talk. And talk Riku did.

"... mixing a salad, and he came up behind me and hugged me. And I guess I wanted him _so_ to do something like that so badly I just forgave him, right on the spot...  
... never even supported the choice I made to work at the swimming centre, you know the one past 83rd avenue, with the little kids. I love children, did you know that? No, I guess you didn't, neither did he...  
... totally dissed my absolute favourite cold drink, raspberry lemonade. "What? You're drinking that?" and scoffed in that way of his...  
... swear on my pet parrot's grave, he _hated_ animals. Even though he pretended not to. How can a person be so heartless? Honestly..."

He listened intently, looking at her all the while. When his tea ran out he kept on listening to the stream of words, pouring from her lips. She seemed to be talking without her brain connected to her mouth, blurting anything that came to mind.

"... and sometimes I think he eyed Risa a little funny, and when I talked to him about it he said it was nothing! As if...  
... so _pretty_. That's why I think he was looking at her anyway. You know, pretty in that almost _too_ good-looking way. I can't see how we're twins, really...  
... insist that I don't take the bus. Then I told him that I always do, either that or walk, and he asked me to change for him and he'd repay me by changing for me, so I said okay...  
... got me this panty and bra set I would never wear in a _million years_. And then he told me it was sexy and made me put it on right in front of him...  
... handed me this bouquet of flowers. So I smiled and said I loved them, but I really would've preferred truffles..."

What was happening? She usually had a stop button, or some reflex that kicked in and told her she was talking too much, but it was out of commission somehow. And then she started talking about things that weren't even related to Krad, things that made her sad or happy to the most random things about her, all to this man she hardly knew.

"... tear up every time I watch _'Windstruck'_, it's so sad I sometimes just anticipate the sadness and cry, even in the theatre...  
... didn't want my panties to show through because they were white after all, but she wouldn't listen and now I've got this insanely tight, white pair of pants worth something like eighty American ye-- rupi-- dollars, that's what they're called - just sitting in my closet...  
... love the smell of pear. And mandarin. Not together though. But they're both really energizing without being too strong and annoying, if that made any sense...  
... never understood 'kick the bucket'. How does it even relate to dying? Same with 'when the fat lady sings'...  
... from monkeys makes the most sense, I think. Where else could AIDS have come from, really? But I wouldn't know, I don't have it...  
... find myself liking jazz more. I'm not sure exactly why, maybe it's because I've been thinking about taking up saxophone..."

"Excuse me?"

Riku stopped midsentence and refocused her eyes on Dark, realizing the voice came not from him, but the frazzled man stnading above her in the coffeehouse's apron. "Yes?"

"It's closing time, miss. Sorry. I've got to clean this table. If you don't mind."

Closing time? Didn't this place close at ten? She glanced at the street outside briefly. The streetlights were coming to life with a crackle, and underaged students were entering clubs in clusters.

Uh.

"Right, sorry," and she stood up a little less sturdily than she would've liked, considering she'd been sitting for the past hour and a half.

"Well," a baritone voice said, disconcertingly close to her ear, "It's too bad we had to cut that short."

She looked up at him, walking right behind her. He reached out to pull the door open and said smoothly, "Ladies first." Then he smiled, putting to shame the gentlemen who did this everyday.

She thanked him and walked through the portal to the night air on the other side. And then it hit her. She whirled around to face him. "You should've stopped me!"

"From doing what?" He looked mildly confused. And cute. He looked very cute.

"From babbling on and on like that!" She'd told him everything about her, from her shopping trips to her insecurities. But worst of all, she'd told him about her _underwear_. Oh dear God.

"Nothing wrong with that," he replied nonchalantly. Then his voice took on an amused lilt. "I rather liked hearing about your-"

If he said 'panties', she would die. _Die_.

"- favourite things. Drinks, artists, eau de toilette..." He looked up at her, playful smile on his face all the while.

She laughed nervously. "No, really. You should've stopped me," and she checked her watch out of habit, only to notice... "Crap!"

"What?"

"My bus left a minute ago," she sighed forlornly. Could this night get any worse? Really?

"I could give you a ride," the purple-haired man offered.

Oh. Yes, it could.

Not to say that a ride with Dark would be horrible. It wouldn't be, not at all, not if she was Riku-from-two-hours-ago. But after spilling all this incredibly private information to him, she didn't know if she could face him and not be embarassed out of her mind.

"I think I'll be okay," she declined politely, airily, almost.

Silence.

She chanced a glance his way. He was looking at her incredulously.

"You're kidding, right?"

Now, wait a minute. Did he not think that she could get home by herself? She was twenty-four, for crying out loud! And it wasn't like her apartment was particularly far away...

He continued on, ignoring the look on her face. "It's ten at night in a large city. We're on main street, at least ten blocks away from any place hospitable. And you're a girl. Not be stereotypical or anything, but there are a lot of weird men out there, you know," he tossed her a look that conveyed amusement and worry.

She bristled. "And there aren't any weird women? Besides, I can take care of myself."

"I know!" he tried his best to negotiate. "But it's not you that I don't trust, it's them. Just let me give you a ride, Riku. As a favour."

"For what?" she looked at him skeptically.

"For telling me so much about a lady as lovely as yourself, of course!" he feigned stress in his voice. "Do me the honour, please."

She considered for a moment. The only sound was their footsteps, clacking on the conrete, seemingly aimless.

He didn't seem to care that much about everything she'd said. He wasn't teasing her or anything at least. It couldn't hurt.

"Alright."

He pulled out a set of keys from the breast pocket of his immaculate coat. "Excellent timing," and he pointed the set of keys at what she assumed was his car.

A black _something_ (she'd never been good at cars) roared to life, scaring Riku out of her wits.

Dark chuckled next to her. "It can't be that bad," he spun the keyring on his finger and looked at her, hand to her heart.

She took a deep breath and said, purposefully calm, "Yes. It can."

He only laughed and opened the passenger's door, motioning for her to get in. "Sit in my scary car, won't you m'lady?" he said, grinning his lady-killer grin.

She smiled weakly at him and his sexy eyes, his sexy grin, his sexy _everything_. Her heart was still beating too quickly as she slid into the expensive car, breathing as evenly as she could, she thought, _'He's going to be the end of me.'_


	3. A Little Past 83rd Avenue

_Disclaimer: None of the characters featured in this story belong to me. Except for the ones I made up._

**

Don't Tell Anyone, But...

**

Sakura-Angel: Here it is, chapter the third, all for you lovely, lovely readers! I'm so happy at the reception I've gotten for the first two chapters, as plotless as it looks so far. 

Dark: Plotless is right. I mean, the trap's set, but when is Sakura going to trip it do you think? 

Sakura-Angel: Read on and find out! 

-------- 

"Have a good day, Miss Harada," the bus driver tipped his hat at her politely. 

"Thank you so much, Kanzaki, you too," and she stepped off the bus. She cut across the parking lot to the main doors of the building, located past 83rd avenue, feeling the un-seasonal wind against her calves. 

Instantly the smell of chlorine hit her nose. She breathed it in, needing it to wake her up. She walked over to the counter of the health food place where her friend/'informant' worked. 

"Hey Riku!" 

"Good morning, Takeshi," she said, hopefully loud enough so that he could hear her over the blender. 

"Here it is, your usual," and he handed her a blended drink of strawberries, bananas, orange and numerous other things she could taste but could not pin. She'd forgotten already what the drink contained. 

"Thanks, Tak," she stuck the straw in and sipped. "How's the story hunt going?" 

Takeshi wiped his hands on a cloth thoroughly while replying, exasperated, "It's not just a hunt, Riku. It's not something that you decide on doing, the instinct and feel for a story is something in you..." 

Riku would've smiled at how funnily passionate he got at times like this, but he would've thought she was being insincere. "I'm sorry, I don't have as much of a feel for it as you, I guess. But what have you picked up?" 

Takeshi hadn't picked up the scent of a truly astounding story yet, but he was pretty good at picking up on the gossip around the place, and Riku loved hearing it when she needed something humanly silly to ground her. This would be one of those times. 

"Well I think Kensuke is developing a thing for you..." 

"What?" Riku obviously didn't like it when the dirt involved her. 

"Ever since it got around that you broke up with Krad, a couple guys seem to be letting loose," he leaned on the counter seperating them, mischevious smile paired with an equally mischevious wink. 

Riku fought the reflex to flush. "When did it get around that I broke up with Krad?" 

"Oh about the same time we all found out Kensuke and Atsuro are madly in love with you," and he smiled another grating smile. 

"I don't need to hear this stuff!" And she walked swiftly away, trying to appear calm. 

"Hey, a bigshot is here today, look cheery!" he yelled after her retreating back, but she didn't seem to have caught it. 

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe Takeshi could jump to conclusions like that. After all, Atsuro had a girlfriend! She kept her cheeks from flaming out of anger and embarassment. 

She walked through the turnstile and down the stairs leading towards the swimming pools. Luckily neither of her two apparent admirers were monitoring the turnstile this morning. All the employees took turns operating it, and since it was so mind-numbingly boring, plus you had to deal with way more snobby people, they always argued about doing it. 

"Hey there, Riku!" A redhead waved. 

"Hey Megumi," Riku replied in kind, setting her stuff down on the bench next to Megumi in the staff changeroom. "Why are you changing out of your suit?" 

Megumi picked up the tank of her tankini by the straps, examining it. "The many-times gold and silver medalist who went to two Olympic Games is here today, just wanted to impress him a little." She winked at her friend and scrutinized the appropriateness of the suit, deciding it wasn't too revealing. She had a class of eleven year olds to teach after all. She looked up at her companion, who was changing into her normal one piece. "And trust me Riku, he is _delicious_. He's a man too, not just some child prodigy. He is _h-ot_." 

Riku laughed. "Are there any men who swim who don't have a body you dream of?" 

Megumi considered, twirling a lock of hair. "Nope," she laughed. "But his face... his hair... God, you'll see what I mean when you see him for yourself." 

Riku raised her eyebrows, and they only went up more at what Megumi said next. 

"Plus, now that you've broken up with that blonde guy, you won't feel bad when you stare," and she laughed some more, only lighter. 

"Does _everybody_ know about me being single again?" 

Megumi made a sympathetic face. "Afraid so, m'dear. Setsuka heard first, and you know when Setsuka hears it first--" 

"Everyone hears it, I know," Riku grimaced, mentally cursing the gossipy basketball coach. 

"And now you've got Kensuke and Atsuro on your tail! Tell me your secret, 'Ku. How do you attract so many guys?" Megumi swept her hair up and tied it securely into a ponytail. 

She felt distress bubbling up inside her. "It's not like I try...!" 

"You say that like it's a bad thing," and Megumi laughed another light laugh, scooping up her towel. 

"It _is_! I hate having to turn guys down... it makes me feel bad." 

Her friend offered her a hand to help her up off the bench. "You're just too nice, you know that?" Inspiration struck her. "Maybe that's what I need to do! Start being needlessly nice!" 

Riku laughed half-heartedly and led the way out of the changeroom onto the busy deck. 

"Riku! Megumi! Get over to the dive tank, and fetch the rings and weights at the bottom!" They were immediately barked at by Mariko, one of the higher-ups. 

Both blinked at each other and walked over, depositing their towels by the lane pool. 

"Atsuro! Get over there and help them! Satoru, go turn on the jets for the whole day in the hottub!" Riku could still hear her hollering, even as she got ready to dive in. 

"Hey Riku," a warm shoulder brushed her own. She looked up and was met with dark brown spiky hair and amber eyes. 

"Hi Atsuro," she tried to smile without letting the expression slip in that she knew how he felt. She was failing. 

"Going in?" he asked warmly, amiably, and tossed a smile her way. It was such a _nice_ smile, she couldn't help but shiver a little. 

"Yeah, Mariko's orders," she kept smiling lightly, turning her head at the splash that came. Megumi must've gone in. 

"Race you to the bottom," he smirked and bumped her lightly, despite his male ego being on the line. Riku was fast, she could probably beat him, but he didn't know that. 

She lifted her goggles to her eyes, which were on the pool, not him, not returning the flirting action going on. "Sure." 

He put his goggles on as well. "1, 2, 3!" 

And they both arched gracefully into the water, making tiny splashes. Atsuro was a good swimmer and diver, there was no denying that, but Riku could beat him easily. She surfaced first, a ring around her forearm. She hauled herself up onto the deck next to Megumi. Her dark-haired competitor surfaced a few seconds after she had. 

"Goddamn, Riku," he slapped his ring onto the deck, water dripping from his hair. "You didn't tell me you were that good." 

She was sitting with the ring still around her arm, a weight in her other hand, now revealed. "Yeah, well. You never asked," she fought to keep the smug tone out of her voice. She had a long career of pruning men's egos. 

"Yeah, Atsuro. Geez, _everyone_ knows Riku's the best," Megumi put in helpfully. 

Atsuro heaved himself onto the deck next to Riku, thigh touching hers. He took her hands in his own in the blink of an eye. 

She stared stupidly at their hands, uncomfortably entwined. "What are you doing?" 

"I'm sorry. I really should've gotten to know you better. After all, you have worked here for a few months already..." 

"Ah, it's no problem," and she pulled her hands as gently as she could from his grasp. 

"No, really," his eyes were staring almost too intensely into her own. "I want to get to know you. Coffee over the break?" 

The other girl let out a huge sigh, listening to their conversation and flipping her bangs. She dove back into the water, splashing the both of them. She wasn't a very good diver, but she had amazing lungs to go down that far and stay there. It was no wonder why... 

Riku sputtered through the momentary deluge. "Uh, that won't be necessary." She decided it was best to be frank with him, since he was coming on so strong. "Besides, don't you have a girlfriend?" 

Amber eyes blinked to reveal widened eyes, once, twice. And... "Hahahaha!" 

Uh. Okay. He was... _laughing_. This was new. She'd hoped she hadn't made him go crazy. 

"Riku, Riku, Riku," he said, in between amused and reprimanding, "You _will_ have coffee with me!" 

_'No, I won't,'_ she was about to reply, annoyed, but he kept speaking. 

"I'm set on you, do you understand?" He looked at her fondly. "I won't take no for an answer." 

Her fuse was lit. No more nice Riku. "_Excuse_ me? What makes you think you can dictate what I do and what I don't?" She could pick up some bellowing in the background, but couldn't focus. How _dare_ he? How dare he tell her she was going to sit and drink a cup of decaf like some spineless idiot? 

"Spirit! I like that," he smiled at her. "I find a woman with fi..." 

And he was tuned out. Instantly, Riku Harada became a spineless idiot. Because right there, not five metres from her, was Dark. 

Atsuro seemed to sense this. He turned around and looked for anything heart-stopping. He saw nothing. "Uh, Riku?" he questioned, put off by her sudden spacey behaviour. "Is there something wrong?" 

"Me-GUMI! At-SU-RO! RIKU!" 

All looked up at the supervisor making her way furiously toward them, brushing past Dark, who was also approaching. 

"Have you gotten everything from the bottom like I told you to? This place needs to be in tip-top shape for the guest today!" 

Riku made a mental note to never say 'tip-top'. 

Megumi drew in a breath to reply, but she was interrupted-- 

"Excuse me, miss? What guest?" a finger tapped the shoulder of the steaming Mariko, and she whirled around to bark rudely at the finger and whoever possessed it, but stopped short once she saw who it was. 

"Dark Mousy?" and she fainted promptly, probably smashing her head on the deck were it not for Dark. 

All the others stiffened upon hearing his name. 

"Would you take her to a nurse? I'd go myself but I'm not familiar with the facility..." the swimmer bent over to pick her up, directing the request at Atsuro. 

He stiffened even more, Riku-issue completely forgotten. "Of course, Mister Mousy," and he saluted unintentionally, already bending over to pick up his superior. 

Dark laughed a little and transferred Mariko over to Atsuro. "No need to be so nervous," he said the words to Atsuro but he was looking at Riku, whose fingernails were digging into her palms. 

"Why don't I help you!" Megumi jumped nervously over to Atsuro, springing off beside him. 

What was that Megumi _doing_? She wanted to impress Dark, and this was a golden opportunity! Plus, Riku didn't want to be left alone with Dark. He made her all nervous and jumpy... 

Warm breath met her cheek. "You're _wel_-come," and the purple-haired man pulled away, rolling his eyes. 

She forgot her nervousness and heard only the tone in the voice so close to her ear. In between angry and annoyed, she replied, "What?" 

The infamous swimmer kept his cool, sticking out his hand with a limp wrist. "I find a woman with fire very sexy," he mocked Atsuro. 

Riku bit her lip to hold back a laugh. It was amazing how fast he'd calmed her with just a sentence. 

"Well... yes. Thank you for that." But she couldn't afford to stay around him lest her heartbeat go all crazy again. So she made to walk past him towards the place where her class met. She could see some students there early, and she felt bad making them wait. She convinced herself that hanging out with Dark could only lead to undoubtedly embarassing things since she'd blurted everything out to him earlier. He was nice when he drove her back to her apartment, but she was sure he was just holding back. 

She sighed as she walked away from him. Nothing like blurting out millions of random, unattractive facts about yourself to mess up your chances of really getting to know a guy. 

"Is that your class over there?" 

What? He was walking with her? 

"Uh, yes," she replied shakily, despite it being only two words. Well, one if you considered 'uh' to not be a word... 

They walked on for a little while longer in silence. 

Paranoid thoughts began to hit her. Why, exactly, was he here? Why did he suddenly show up at her little-known workplace with his big, fancy title of Olympic swimmer? There was no reason to. Couldn't he train somewhere else undoubtedly better? 

"So... you didn't tell me you were an Olympic swimmer," she revived the conversation, cutting tension that she felt but apparently he didn't. 

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I hate introducing myself like that." 

"I see." 

"Makes me come off as snobby, dontcha think?" he took a moment to wink at some instructors in the middle of teaching a class, gaping at him. 

She scrutinized his action with a little skepticism. That was what it was. Yup, it was definitely not jealousy. "And you'd prefer to come off as a--" 

"Playboy?" he smiled at her, again, in that knowing way. 

She tried not to gape. Or blush. And she thought she was used to him and all his freakish abilities. He sure taught her a lesson... 

"You forget, m'dear. You are very easy to read." He directed a wink her way this time. "Jealous, are we?" 

So much for not blushing. "No!" she said much too loudly and much too heatedly. 

He laughed. "Right. To elicit emotion from you, I've got to sit you down in front of _Windstruck_..." 

Her cheeks heated up more, but she chose to ignore the last comment. "I have nothing to be jealous about, Mister Mousy! Now, if you excuse me, I have a class to teach," she tried her best to sound professional. She walked quickly over to the teach pool, heart racing for reasons she did not want to admit. 

He watched her go, walking quicker than allowed on a wet deck towards her pupils. He smiled to himself, glad he could fluster her. 

And little did he know that a smile was sneaking onto her face as well. 

"Why so smiley, teach?" Kosuke, the lovable, wiseass michief-maker of the group asked. 

"Eh, nothing," she did her best to sound like nothing big had happened. Which it didn't. It's not like meeting him again was something absolutely wonderful, something to gush and scream silently about. It wasn't like her life had just changed miraculously and it would be so much better just because of him, all smiles and wonder. It wasn't as if she'd turned her small, uncomplicated life into something extravagant and all the more meaningful, just because she had someone else to share it with-- 

"Yeah right, nothing," he elbowed another classmate, grinning and sharing a private joke. 

She almost, _almost_ blushed and snapped at him, but that would've been admitting something. Surely, having the feeling to do so meant nothing in comparison to actually acting on it. "Yup. Nothing." 

He placed an indignant hand on his hip. "You _sure_ it wasn't that guy over there who's makin' you all fluttery and dreamy and stuff?" 

She piqued an eyebrow, doing her best to stay calm. "I'm fluttery and dreamy and _stuff_?" 

"Yeah, totally," her student entwined his fingers together, hands now mushed beside his face in the typical, gushy schoolgirl way. "He's sooo hot! He's SUCH a dreamboat..." 

Everyone acting like this (yes, Risa and Kosuke counted as everyone) was enough to make Riku hurl herself into one of the pools. And goddamn, if one more person said one more thing, she just might do it. 


	4. The Art of Constant Surprise

_Disclaimer: DN Angel does not belong to me, but it does belong to Yukiru Sugisaki, who (damn her) is an absolute genius. You'd have to be to create Dark and Dai-chan._

**

Don't Tell Anyone, But...

**

Sakura-Angel: (wince) Sorry? No, really, I'm sorry. I'm horrible at updating things. I'm a horrible person in general. Shame! Shame!

Dark: ... or you could not beat yourself up.

Sakura-Angel: Gah! I hate schooool. But I'm going to cut myself off there because I KNOW I'm going to start ranting about how much I hate school and about how stupid my principal is and so on.

Dark: Just let it stand that he stalks around the school with a police officer to make people nervous. Heck, I'D be nervous.

Sakura-Angel: But you're a thief. You have reason to be nervous.

Dark: This is true. But. I think you should start the chapter.

Sakura-Angel: Right! Please to ignore the bumbling hostess.

--------

She walked in the next day with the same blast of warm air tickling her face, the same whiff of chlorine and even with the same jeans on. But. But she could sense that something was definitely _definitely_ different. The air was charged in a peculiar way. Also, the floor was shiny to the extreme.

It wasn't until after she picked up her drink (Takeshi wasn't there) and was halfway through the turnstile (neither Atsuro or Kensuke were there, thank goodness) that she heard it.

_"... won gold last year..." _

"... waxed the floors just because they thought he might_ come back..." _

"... Mousy is here..."

She felt a shock of _something_ shoot up her spine at his last name. What was that? Excitement? Did it matter? What really mattered was why was he was here. Why would he come back again?

She pushed open the door to the staff locker room, trying to keep the bits of excitement from bursting through her fa硤e of calmness.

She couldn't help wondering if he'd come over and talk to her. Did it mean anything? No, of course not. Besides, it would never work, she'd told him too many mortifying things about herself. If he did, it was just because they knew each other somewhat. Besides, he even pulled that little known _'Windstruck'_ thing on her. He was teasing her entirely. Was he here to tease her some more? Was she just 'that klutzy, blabbery girl' to him? She felt a flash of indignation. Well, that was just _mean_. He couldn't possibly think that, could he? If he did, he was definitely not worth all these frantic thoughts. She might consider even kicking him in the nads--

"Riku?"

She nearly jumped up in surprise, hand to her chest. She whipped her head around to see who it was. "Megumi! God, don't scare me like that!"

Her friend only offered her a look of confusion. "Yeah, whatever. Listen... Takeshi has something to talk to you about. It's urgent apparently."

Buh.

"Oh... kay," She wasn't even changed yet. Would she have time to have a decent length conversation with Takeshi and get back here in time to change into her swinsuit, run out on deck and _not_ incur the wrath of Mariko?

Yes, she decided. Yes.

She was feeling antsy, but for what reason she didn't understand.

She sprung up from the bench and bolted out the door. "Thanks, Megumi!" she called, and almost ran up to the health food stand. Joint. Glorified kiosk. "Takeshi!" she almost yelled over the counter.

He came when called and slid a drink over to her. "Yeeees?"

"Megumi! Said something about your wanting to talk to me!" She hadn't realized she was gripping the edge of the counter until now, ignoring the drink.

He leaned back on his heels, lazy gaze studying hers. She seemed something extra today.

"Yeah-huh. Head some scraps of something today," he began, deceptively calm.

Why was her heart hammering so fast? Why had she hoped he'd say that?

"There's a rumour goin' 'round that you've got another admirer..." His eyes flickered, hoping to disguise any hint of excitement and hoping to catch any in hers.

It was there. It wasn't a hint though, her eyes were full out shining. She was blazing for it.

A thought stabbed him suddenly. Did she know what he'd say?

"Yes?" she prodded him, trying to disguise her eagerness.

"Know a guy about yea-high, red hair, snorts sometimes when he laughs really hard?" He leaned over the counter at her, easy grin on his face.

At "red hair" her heart plummeted a little. No! It didn't do that! It was fine. As a matter of fact, it was unaffected. Still, she couldn't disguise the slightly sadder tone her voice had taken on. "No..."

He grinned wider and shrugged. "Well, it's not him."

"Saehara!" She was tempted to grab him by the collar and slam the side of his head into the counter. She settled for gritting and baring her teeth at him, and curling her hand into a fist.

"Whoa, whoa! Riku, Riku, Riku! No need to get all last-namey-angry-power mode on me!" He held his hands up, seemingly surrendering.

"Then stop beating around the bush! You _know_ I hate that!" She fumed, knowing she looked like a brat but not really caring. She finally picked up the drink and stuffed the straw into her mouth angrily.

"Okay, okay then," Takeshi lowered his hands, his only barrier, slowly, as if at any moment Riku might turn on him and attack and he'd need to spring it back up again. "Know a guy about yea-high, _purple_ hair, could be dressed in a burlap sack and birkenstocks and _still_ be attractive to women?"

She furrowed her brow at his last description. "Uhhh."

"Three guesses," Takeshi smiled at her, strange for him, kindly.

Her brow relaxed itself and her heart began pumping furiously again. The only guy she knew who had purple hair was Dark! But it wouldn't be Dark. He couldn't possibly--

"Dark?" She blurted, and clapped her hands over her mouth immediately after.

"On a first name basis with him, eh?" Takeshi leaned on the counter, chin cradled in his hand. He raised his eyebrows and grinned a predatory grin.

"No!" She blurted again, hands hovering over her mouth in case she said something even _more_ stupid. She didn't know if that was even _possible_ at this point.

"You're a sharp one, 'Ku," Takeshi teased her. "Luring him right to you the second he walks in. Very smooth of you."

Her hands dropped and she glared at him. "I did not...!"

"You did not what?" A firm hand on her shoulder, a figure leaning into her.

She stiffened, flight reaction shot. God, Ohgodohgodohgod. Why her? _Why_ whenever she was talking about someone did they have to show up or at least catch the tail end of a conversation? Her eyes widened and she was filled with the tiniest sensation of dread. "Mister Mousy," she forced herself to spread a smile over her face. "I was just telling Saehara that..." Her eyes darted all over the place for an explaination, too busy to catch a hint of amusement passing over his features.

"I was telling him... that I... that I did not order this drink!" She slammed the cup on the table for emphasis.

"You seem to have drunk a lot though, have you not?" The man leaning over her questioned, poking the cup in her hand.

_Shit._ She forgot that.

"N-no!" She seemed to be saying that an awful lot today. "That was him drinking it, and telling me... how good it is..." She kept her eyes on Takeshi the entire time, watching him watch Dark. Who was watching her. It was a staring triangle. A highly uncomfortable one, she might add.

"I see," said Dark, in a way that made it clear to her that he wanted to finish the statement off with 'that you're clearly lying'. She felt her knees weakening.

There was a strange silence. He stood up straight, hand dropping from her shoulder and nearly brushing her lower back. "Well I really must be going. I will see you later, Saehara. And I will see you at the pool, Riku." And he was gone.

She could see Takeshi practically counting to ten in his head before he burst. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? God, LOOK at him, leaning like that, staring like that, HOW could you NOT KNOW?"

She was tempted to rub her temples. "I--"

"KEEP IT UP! Whatever you're doing! You GO, RIKU!" His fist pounded the counter, attracting more than a little attention from passersby.

Dear God, she thought he'd start whooping with his level of enthusiasm. How embarassing. She wanted to run and hide, but at the same time she wanted to burst out smiling and skip over the tiled floor, waving her arms and exclaiming "He likes me! He li--"

But no. She didn't care if he liked her or not. Besides, a little leaning meant nothing. He was just making sure she heard him was all, there were a lot of people around...

Okay, so there _weren't_. Unless five people counted as a lot.

But that didn't matter! All that mattered was that she definitely did not like him, and he _definitely_ did not like her, right?

Right, she thought to herself. Right.

--------

"You're veering into the other lane, Kosuke!" Riku yelled to her student about to hit the seperator.

"Rei, your stroke is off! Stroke, stroke, stroke!"

"You're not letting yourself glide, Sora! Put more force into your kick!"

Riku was anxious. And when Riku was anxious, she drove her students. Hard. They could tell completely that she was feeling tense, so they went along with her. She was lucky that she had students like these, others would have threw tantrums or splashed her mercilessly.

She paced behind the starting blocks, watching her students intently. She couldn't let her mind wander. She had to give one hundred percent to this, had to be quaking with intensity, or her mind would drift and she'd think about something she definitely did not want to think about.

"Hey."

Speak of the--

"Hello."

"Have a minute?"

"You know, I really don't think I can get away," she informed him, not turning to look at him. This was mostly because he was undoubtedly in his swimsuit and looking very, very attractive.

"Oh come on," he nudged her with his elbow, and his bare skin on hers made her stand up even straighter. "You don't trust your students to take care of themselves for a little while?"

"Yeah, teach," a voice piped up from behind a starting block. Kosuke. "Go talk to the nice man."

She could KILL him. She knew he was her student, and she was bound by some sort of unwritten code to NOT maim her students (not to mention many legal documents), but Kosuke was reeeeally pushing it.

"You know," she said through clenched teeth, eyeing her rambunctious student with murderous intent, "I could make you do ten more laps if you want."

He pursed his lips, knowing he'd lost. "Did I say go? I meant stay. Stay forever and ever because I love you." And he dived off the starting block back into the water.

"You see?" She said with renewed conviction, and turned to look at Dark, forgetting that she wasn't looking at him. But what she noticed was not how nicely toned his body was (that was for later), but how he was chuckling at her and her students' banter.

"You really..." He smiled at her and opened his eyes. "Do love kids, don't you?"

She was taken aback. "Y-yes," she managed to stutter. What had posessed him to say that? "I told you that before."

"It's obvious that you do," he said, still smiling, only now he turned his head to look at them, swimming up and down their lanes.

She did likewise, if only because she didn't want to keep looking at him and his nicely muscled arms. Yes, that was it. "I remember once," she began absently, "That one of my younger students, an adorable seven year old, told me that she used to hate swimming, but she loved it now because of me... it felt so good to know that. That, because of me, she learned to love something."

He turned his soft eyes on her, but she was barely aware of it.

She was truly extraordinary. She wore her heart so clearly on her sleeve, showed her emotions so clearly on her face. He saw in her so many things he could not see in himself. She intrigued him.

Clearing of a throat. Hers, to be precise.

He cut off whatever she wanted to say next. "Would you do me the honour of joining me for a drink? I'll make sure to not get what you had this morning," he added charmingly.

She was about to demure politely, suddenly feeling sapped of her energy from earlier on. But instead she, surprising herself (she seemed to do that more lately too), said yes.

--------

"Two raspberry lemonades please," he told the girl behind the counter of the food stand, slapping a bill down for her. She looked mildly shocked, but seemed to recover the second he turned away, physically shaking herself.

Riku, coming up behind him and taking a seat at a table, tilted her head at him funny. What was that for?

"What's that for?"

"What?" she cocked her head to the other side instantly, soliciting a laugh from him.

"This." And he made it a point to tilt his head far too much to the right.

She stiffened a little, blushing. She didn't know how all these little things she did made him want to laugh.

"Um... it's just that. You. Um." She chewed at her lip. She was always anxious when he wasn't around, but when he was, she was fine. She was so caught up in... _him_. Why was that?

He smiled again. It seemed to him that he always smiled when she was around. "I..."

"You remembered what I said. About liking raspberry lemonade." Her eyes shifted from the tabletop to his chin. "I didn't think you would remember something that... stupid."

"Riku," he bit at the end of her sentence, instantly serious, reprimanding even. "Nothing about you is stupid."

She blinked multiple times, surprised. Her eyes were wide in an almost vulnerable way, staring him straight on. "Oh."

Another laugh held back. Her responses to everything were just... endearing. "It's true. You may not believe it, but it's true."

"I just meant... I didn't think you would remember anything I told you. It wasn't... really important."

He wanted to talk about her, she wanted to talk about him.

"Of course it was. It still is, clearly." He gestured to the waitress coming with the two lemonades, as if on cue. She placed them on the table slowly, lingering too long and eyeing Dark, then leaving reluctantly, tapping her shoes loudly.

This fact was not missed by Riku. In fact, it might have been played up in her mind into a full blown scenario in which the waitress was sitting in Dark's lap and twirling a lock of his hair, giggling flirtatiously and hiking her skirt up higher every five seconds.

"Are you serious?"

Her eyes widened, but then she realized Dark was not talking about her scenario. He was pointing at his cup of raspberry lemonade.

Not having shaken off her daydream yet, she coughed out a "Huh?"

He sputtered a little after taking another sip of his red drink. "Nope," he said, wiping his mouth, "It doesn't get any better."

She was instantly defensive. "How can you say that? It's so yummy!"

He bit his lip, holding back a laugh. "'Yummy'?"

"Yes!"

"I haven't heard anyone past the age of ten use that word," he bit at her unintentionally.

"Well now you have," she bit back, and smirked triumphantly.

He let himself smile this time, watching her take a sip of her drink.

He wanted to talk to her. Or even just listen to her talk, like he had those few days ago in the coffeeshop. "So that time, that sleepover, when you were twelve... what was that game you mentioned?"

She looked over her glass at him, anxiousness fading. "Truth," she replied, and went back to her drink, trying her best to not slurp it greedily. "All we did was ask questions and tell the truth..."

"And why," said he, taking another unconcious sip of his drink and spluttering all over again, "Would this game be entertaining?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Because it was drama-inducing. You asked really hard questions and the other person had to tell the truth, no matter what."

"Ahhhh," came his understanding sigh.

"Why are you asking?" She couldn't help asking him about his asking.

"Why don't..." he started, tapping at the tabletop. "We play?"

"Truth?"

"Yes."

She wasn't quite comprhending. "You," she pointed at him, in an I-Tarzan-you-Jane sorta way, "want to play Truth, a total girl's game, with me." A finger pointed at herself.

"Yes."

She nodded slowly, unable to quell a strange sensation in her abdomen. "Okay."


	5. Friends, Of Course

_Disclaimer: I really really really want to own DN Angel, but I'm guessing Sugisaki wouldn't be so happy about that, huh?_

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: First, I'm **extremely sorry** for the _really_ disgusting wait. my computer was going through lag-fest 2005/2006 over here, and my internet was down for two weeks... but those are all just crap excuses, heh.

Dark: You are a horrible person. It doesn't matter that I've told you this 834756 times already.

Sakura-Angel: I know! Ugh, God, I know. To make up for it, this chapter is pretty much chock-full of Dark x Riku situations, and even some innuendo, provided by your favourite purple-haired kaitou.

Dark: Damn straight.

--------

"So what are the rules?" 

It was after hours, and both Riku and Dark had stayed behind that day. Megumi was vehement about Dark staying behind to lock up, but he insisted, and of course, got his way.

She was more used to him now. Over the mere space of a day, she had eased in slowly to their strange relationship. She was less surprised when he'd toss a cunning look her way (mostly because he did it a lot). She was less edgy each time he came around in between her classes, talking and maybe joking idly.

Her amazement for the past couple days was wearing off though, and it seemed less dream and more reality, having him talk to her and stand next to her. She was confused about whether his presence was a blessing or not, because everytime he was around, she forgot about Krad and his impressions on her, but her heart hammered. When Dark wasn't around, she was calm without anything to focus on, and she felt cold with the reminder that she was without a boyfriend. Not that she cared about having one.

Of course.

"Well, the only rule is that you have to tell the truth."

"Otherwise you lose?" 

"That," she replied almost tiredly, and moved her calves through the water, "Is such a _guy_ thing to say." 

"What?"

"Winning, losing... does it matter?"

"Of course," he said, seating himself next to her and swishing his legs in the water also. "How is it a game if someone doesn't win and someone doesn't lose?"

She sighed audibly, and stuck her tongue out at the look he was giving her. "I guess... you lose by refusing to answer a question truthfully."

"Ah." _Swish_.

"So... what's your favourite food?"

He glared a tiny bit at her and countered the glare with a playful smirk. "Don't coddle me, Miss Harada. Ask something worth asking."

"I just wanted to ease you in."

"No easing. Jump right in," he said sternly, but not unkindly.

She blew out her cheek in mock annoyance and racked her brain for something worth asking. "What is your greatest fear?"

"Losing."

"Losing what?"

"I believe," he said to her, smiling and waggling two fingers in her direction, "that that is two questions."

"It's a follow-up. Those are allowed." 

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, suspicious. He smirked still, and his hair fell in his face. He looked good. _Very_ good. "I think you're making rules up."

Her face nearly flamed from embarassment. "I'm not," she insisted, even though she was.

"Don't try to take advantage of my not having played his before," he said, the tsktsktsk practically sitting on his tongue. "You said the only rule was that I had to tell the truth. You never said I ha--"

"Igetit, I get it!" She waved her hands exasperatedly. "I hate it when people get all rule-y."

"Well I have to get like that, because you're clearly sort of cheater-y," he said, piquing an eyebrow at her and smiling.

And embarassed and huffy as she was, she couldn't help smiling back.

He leaned backward onto his palms and continued swishing the water with his legs. "So, it's my turn."

She nodded.

"Same question. What's your biggest fear?" He turned his head to look at her relaxedly.

She hesitated. "Failing." Her voice echoed in the empty facility.

"At?"

"That's also two questions, you cheater, you," she said almost flatly. It had been her intention to sound indifferent, but it was so hard when she wasn't, not at all.

He pouted sexily at her. She wondered how he could manage to make _pouting_, the most childish act in the world, look sexy, but she just got up out of the water.

"I've got to get home."

He looked up at her from his spot on the deck, and said to her in his teasing way, "Scared now that it's my turn, huh?"

"No," she replied, trying her best to keep her breathing even. "It's almost seven, and I have t--"

"Avoid speaking to me?" he cut in, voice smooth as ever.

"_No_," she ground out, heart hammering even harder now at her bald lie. "I just want to spend a nice night at home and eat ice cream and watch a movie."

"That sounds a little suspicious," he told her, and got out of the water to stand in front of her. "Sounds like you're still nursing something..."

Ugh! He was a _boy_, he wasn't supposed to know this stuff! "And what if I am?"

"Still upset over my short-sighted friend?" 

She fought the temptation to roll her eyes at how... _wrong_ he was. "Why do you care?" she asked, hating how shaky she sounded. She felt a stinging rush to her nose, the signal of tears, and turned slightly away to conceal herself.

"I thought you hated him for what he did. Well, what he didn't do." He tilted his head on his graceful neck, stretching to look her in the eye, but failing.

"I-I do! I do, okay? He was stupid and not worth it and that's why I dumped him, and I don't care if you _are_ his friend and tell him everything I said because he was an absolute ass to me..." she trailed off, choking on her own badly disguised sobs.

Dammit. _Dammit_. She didn't cry over guys! She didn't even _like_ Krad as much as the small handful of other guys she'd dated. She hadn't _ever_ come this close to crying over a man. Why now?

She stiffened at his touch, the muscles in her calves tightening. His skin on hers made her head throb, and her breath caught in her throat, halting her crying. For a few seconds anyway.

He was hugging her. Stroking her hair and telling her it was alright, ignoring her nose running disgustingly and her blotchy eyes, just like a friend would.

And in that time gap between conciousness and sleep, she realized that that was what he was.

--------

She woke up disoriented, legs tangled in sheets that weren't hers. She shot up out of bed, not recognizing the smell of the room or the painting across the wall from the bed. Oh, God! What had she done!

Oh, wait. She still had her swimsuit on. Underneath a very nice black collared shirt. And then she remembered, cheeks heating up, that she had cried and cried all over Dark, and had very possibly gotten snot on him.

"Awake, I see," his voice came to her from the desk adjacent to the bed. She hadn't even noticed him there. She was glad he piped up, because the next thing she was going to do was bury her face in his sheets and inhale that _oh so nice_ unfamiliar smell.

Good thing he had unknowingly saved her from embarassment of epic proportions.

She cleared her throat, but her voice still cracked, much to her dismay. "Thank you, Dark." She touched her open throat, unconciously rubbing it as if it would help her broken voice.

"Mm... no problem." He pushed out his chair and got up to look at her. His hair fell in his face as he looked her up and down, unabashedly. "You look pretty good in that shirt. Wanna keep it?"

She blushed ferociously, suddenly very aware of her state of dress. It didn't matter that he had seen more of her swimming around all day, it was the situation. In what she knew was his bed, holding the complete attention of his flashing eyes, she felt more exposed than she ever had in her life, even when bratty Sorata Oto had pantsed her in grade one. She swallowed. "Don't... you need it?"

"It's too small for me," he replied easily, eyes still resting on her. 

Or her neck, to be more specific. His eyes followed the slope of her neck to what was exposed of her right shoulder, _smoothskin_slanting_collarbone_slantingstill, and then hidden by the dark fabric of his shirt. The thought that the shirt was his brought him more pleasure than it should have.

"It's yours, still," she said quietly.

He waved a hand, sending his mood fluttering into the air. "Keep it."

She said nothing, and he took it as a yes.

"You alright?" he asked, shifting gears.

"I... I don't know," she answered truthfully, eyes cast down on his white sheets. Desperately wanting to change the topic, she asked idly, "What time is it?" 

"Ten twenty," he told her without looking away. 

"What?" she looked up at him, astonished. "I've been asleep for three hours?"

He nodded, not adding the 'and six minutes' he was tempted to tack on.

She groaned, "I won't be able to sleep until three in the morning now." She lifted her hand to fist it in her hair, tugging in a way that looked painful.

An idea was sparked in his head. He grinned at her. "Then... you wanna go somewhere?"

"What?" she said stupidly, and reprimanded herself immediately after. Her entire vocabulary was dwindling down to that word.

"Let's go out," he reiterated, and added (with as much charm as ever), "As friends of course, if you want." He sat down next to her on his bed.

She looked uncertain, so he carried on his line of persuasion.

"You said yourself you weren't feeling alright, right? Going out will make you feel better. And trust me, I can _guarantee_ you a good time." He winked at her, smile blooming on his face and a cute, angry blush blooming on hers.

"What are you suggesting?"

"That we go dancing, of course."

--------

She was extremely glad that Dark's definition of a good time was not the usual guy's definition of a good time.

She had protested and come up with a myriad of hitches in his plan (what would she wear? where would they go?), but he had countered every single time with either such a sensible or mysterious response, she was left with no other choice but to go.

He had dropped her off at her apartment so she could change and tie up her hair (and whatever other weird girl stuff you need to do, said he) and waited for her in the parking lot, whistling a Frank Sinatra tune. And when she came out in one of her few skirts and a pair of low heels, he whistled and made her blush.

They drove to the supermarket and picked up a pint of vanilla and two spoons (in case he wanted some). They flew down the road, playing Truth, and stopped in front of a well-manicured park, and got out at well past eleven.

He led her to the middle of the park with their ice cream in tow. The ground was even so she didn't trip. She felt like she was in the middle of a very well-dreamed dream, but she was jerked out of it when he placed his warm hand on the small of her back.

"Care to dance?" he asked her, ever the gentleman, and held out his other hand for her to take.

She took it.

They had been dancing for a few minutes when she decided to talk. "My turn?"

"Your turn," he affirmed, nodding.

She inhaled, gathering up courage. "Why did you want to do this?"

"Because I wanted to dance with you, of course," he answered with his usual warmness, and unceremoniously dipped her.

"No, really. You have to tell the truth," she told him, upside down. 

He eased her back up and smiled down at her, eyes smoldering. "Because... I like seeing you happy."

She almost messed up the next step, but recovered quickly. She thought up a response before she knew she had done it. He was creeping into her speech already. "Who says I'm happy?" She smiled at him. 

He smiled back.

And then she pressed the side of her face into his chest and sighed at how good it felt. Everything felt. 

It really was tragic that they could never be.


	6. Catch You If I Can

_Disclaimer: DN Angel R MINE. Hah, yeah... right. You guys know I don't own anything, poor sap that I am._

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: Yessss. Chapter six is up! And in considerably less time than five, eh? Digging deeper than the last chapter though. Hopefully you like. Aaand I introduced someone new. Not an OC, don't like those particularly much. Someone you'll be familiar with. Give me some artistic license with Dark and this character's relationship though. They're just there for support. Every good leading character needs a just-as-good buddy.

Dark: Keyword: Just-as.

Sakura: Oh, hush. Read on, and leave your opinion if you like. (I was really happy at the reception I got for the last chapter. Thought you'd all left me, heh.)

--------

"So how's your mystery man?"

"Risa--"

"Don't even try and deny it, sis. I can see what's going on here." Risa made spirals with her index finger in the direction of her strangely moody sister.

They were sitting in Risa's downtown office, twenty-some stories high. How did she get this job again? Besides being disgustingly fashionable? Ugh. Riku reminded herself to get a cushy job like this.

"I don't have a 'man'. What would make you think that?" Riku sat across from her sister at a modest mahogany desk, both stirring the spoons to coffees.

"You're just a little happier and a little sadder than your usual. What's up?" Risa tilted her head to the side, an unconcious listening reflex. Riku was reminded of the time Dark teased her about tilting her head, and then unreminded herself of it.

She stared out the window at the cityscape, everything gray in the dim light of the morning. She couldn't hide anything from her twin, and it was exhausting to even try anymore. How did she get so perceptive?

"I don't know, Risa. I... just. You remember that guy we saw at your old coffeeshop?"

"The hunk?" Risa's eyes widened to liken saucers, and Riku braced herself for some squealing.

"The hot purple-haired guy? Oh my GOD! You're in love. You're in love with him, aren't you?" Risa's hands shot out to her sister's, almost knocking over both their coffees but somehow managing not to. She held her hands with a tight, excited grip. "Tell me!"

She smiled. Risa could just toss around the word 'love' like it was nothing. She gripped her sister's fingers too. "I don't know. He just... makes me feel so sad but so happy, and I don't even know why because we could never... never..." she trailed off, not knowing _what_ she wanted to say.

"Sounds like a serious case to me," Risa said kindly, and gave Riku's fingers one last squeeze before letting go. "Nothing can never be, 'Ku." 

"I told him all this stupid, worthless stuff about me! I... I..." she grasped, unable to find words for her stupidity. "I... told him about my insecurities. Like how I don't feel smart enough sometimes, and how I don't like my nose, and- and- about my _underwear_!" she burst, feeling ready to tear up but not actually cry. "He could just not... possibly... like me. Even a little. I... drove him away."

Risa snorted/scoffed, unelegant and completely unlike her. "'Ku, does he hang around you?"

"Yes, but--"

"But nothing," Her sister cut her off gently. She didn't even need to hear the rest of the story. "If he's still around, you didn't drive him off, okay?"

She bit her lip, feeling strange. It was always her who did the reassuring, and Risa who did the fretting. "I think he only wants to be friends."

"Riku," her twin said sturdily, and fixed her with her own eyes, "If any guy stuck around after you told him about your underwear, I'm pretty sure he's got more interest than you think."

-------- 

"So you're... interested her?"

"You could say that. She _is_ very interesting."

"I think you know how I mean."

"Well, _yes_. Wouldn't you be? Oh right, I forgot. You're dead inside." 

"Dark..."

"Okayokay, calm down. You know I don't actually think that."

He didn't. Satoshi was actually a fairly emotional guy, once you got to know him as well as Dark did. Well, as emotional as a _guy_ could be, anyway. 

The blue-eyed, blue-haired young man made his version of a disbelieving face, and turned back towards his crossword. Dark had a feeling that Satoshi was one of those guys who looked about twenty when he was twelve, and would look about thirty when he was fifty. 

Swimmer and confidante sat at the coffee house _Venti_, down the road from Lao's. They sat at the exact table Dark and Riku had sat at about a week ago, and as silly as it was, Dark half-expected the newspaper to come down and there Riku would be, as embarassed and easy to read as ever.

"So how's _your_ love li--"

"Don't even," Satoshi cut him off coolly before taking a sip of coffee.

"Touchy, touchy..." Dark tossed a daring look Satoshi's way, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Satoshi's paper snapped back up.

All the better. It left him to his thoughts.

Hmm-hmmm. Riku Harada. He couldn't put his finger on it, but she intrigued him. And he was _good_ at putting his finger on things too. And he wasn't easily intrigued either. She was special. He just knew it. He knew to trust his gut, and it was telling him to stick around.

Not that he wouldn't. Who wouldn't want to stick around someone so... fiesty? She had spunk alright, just a different kind than he was used to. Your average spunk was all over, it was in the things a person wore, it was on their tongue, it was... transferrable.

But _hers_. Hers wasn't. Hers was hers alone, and he liked that. He liked that a lot. Hers was subtle, less cutting and more seeping. She wasn't your average girl. She was more than just a few layers, she was a million, a million layers that left off halfway or connected to others or melded into each other. She contradicted herself but confirmed herself all at once. Her personality was so... _complex_, and _damn_, it drew him in fast.

This complexity he'd been alerted to the first day at the pool when he'd seen that guy cozy up to her and her being turned off. He'd always been a sucker for those "I don't give a damn" girls, and Riku was like that but also not. He could see that she was attracted to him, that was easy to tell, but there was something else.

She was still hurting over Krad. He didn't know exactly _why_, since she'd made it pretty clear he was an ass to her, wasn't in it from the get-go, and that she hated him for it.

But of course, there came that layers thing again. She obviously liked him enough to not dump him for such a long time, even after all he had done (or uh, not done) for her and to her. The only reason for why she would put up with all crap for as long as she did, at least in Dark's mind, was that she had it pretty bad for him.

That bothered him more than it should have. It made him want to just go up to Krad, his friend since he was about nine, and take him by the shoulders and shake him insanely for having won the affections of such an _amazing_ girl, and not care in the least.

It bugged him. How did _Krad_, one of the (and this was coming from one of his closest friends) biggest _asses_ in the world, get Riku in that deep? She wasn't one of those just-for-a-week types, obviously, or into one of those all-lust-no-love relationships. She didn't tell him _that_ one, but she was easy to read. She was looking for something more romantic. She wasn't searching for it, but she was looking, lest it pass her by.

He took a sip of his black coffee. Tea would never taste as good as when he had been sitting here with Riku. He saved it now, to savour.

He had brewed them a pot of it once they had gotten back from the park that night, doing waltzes and slow dances and madeup tangoes.

She kicked off her shoes and took the mug from him with a melancholy sort of look.

"What's up?" he asked, tipping his head to the right, just like she had done before. He held his own cup in his hands, steaming away.

"N- nothing," she said, too lightly. She looked at everything but him, standing there frozen in his kitchen.

"Hey," he started, wanting to nudge her arm but not doing it, somehow. "You can tell me. What's going on?"

She chewed at her bottom lip, trying desperately to look past him and his handsome face and his solid hands that had held her so _right_. His easy mannerisms and sly grin and smooth walk, his everything, so perfect. She had never thought she'd find such comfort in perfection. Trust her to freak out and twist perfection into something else entirely. 

He scared her. He scared her considerably, because it wasn't the time, it wasn't right, but the thing was that it wasn't wrong. She was crazy for letting him close, he was crazy to want it. Or maybe it was the other way around.

She thought she really liked Krad. Maybe not loved, but at least liked him enough to not fall into something deeper than she thought for his friend within an hour of breaking up with him. What kind of a girl was she, anyway? It was either some insane lust (unlikely) or some kind of a rebound reaction (even more unlikely) that was causing her to act this way, it had to be.

It was too much. She _liked_ Krad, there was no denying it. She was hurt so bad over him, from the neglect, from the want of something bigger than he could give.

But then there was Dark. He... was _magnetic_. No matter how many times she told herself that he didn't like her, she didn't like him, no way there's nothing there, and pulled away a little, she was snapped right back by his smirk or his voice or his...

_Everything._

He threw her so colossally off track that she didn't even know what was what anymore. She didn't know if his being there was good because he made her feel like everything was good, beyond good, or if it was bad because she felt bad, beyond bad because she was reminded of Krad and all he represented.

"Hey," he said after a considerable silence, "if you're not going to answer me, you could at least sit down and drink your tea." He reached out to take her elbow, but she was shocked to life an inch from his touch, and moved quickly towards the table.

"Oookay," he said not quite under his breath, and about-faced, spinning on his heel to join her from across the table.

"So, your turn or mine?" he asked in an effort to bring her back from wherever she was.

It worked. She replied without faltering (she was particularly proud of that), "Yours." Sip.

"Well then," he said, and tapped his mug, the ceramic material tinkling loudly. When her eyes landed on his tapping fingers, he froze them to see how she'd react. She did exactly as predicted, and looked up at him, right into his eyes.

"Why did you like him?"

She looked down, blinked, and heaved a breath. It was like he'd read her mind. Still, she played dumb. "Who?" Her voice sounded weak to her own ears. She could only imagine what he heard in it. Cowardice? Uncertainty?

"Krad." 

She hid her flinch. She thought about her answer, staring at his hands (perfect) and not his eyes (also perfect). She could lie. She could pass and end the game, just like that, if she wanted to. But she didn't. "I wanted to."

His fingers (perfectperfectperfect) curled around the handle of his mug, and he lifted it to his lips. He looked over the rim at her the entire time, not that she could see him looking in the first place.

She began speaking again, words spilling, just like that first day. "I wanted so badly to believe love could work. And he just started out so... perfect. And when he started to not be, I worked harder at it. I convinced myself that he was... worth it." She felt that sting again, high in the bridge of her nose. "I just wanted to believe in a... forever."

Hearing it outloud confirmed it. She had always known on some level that she was seeking it; love perfect, love forever. And that was why it had hurt so bad to dump Krad - he was her try at forever. Bearing it and believing it was fine was better than letting go, because together meant forever, right?

She wanted to cry.

Dark sat there, completely engrossed in how she was. Other people would have squirmed, other people would have ignored her tears, other people would turn her out of their homes, saying she was an emotional basketcase. Not Dark.

She began to sniffle, and the noise caused a chain reaction in her. Hearing herself made her cry more. She hoped he wouldn't ask if she was okay. She hated it when people asked that, because it made you truly realize that no, you weren't.

He did no such thing.

When he moved from his position, she was afraid he would stand up and hug her again. This time, she didn't want that. He knew her better now. She would feel even more alone if he hugged her because it was an easy cure. It was a way out for someone who didn't truly understand. It had happened the first time because she knew he really _didn't_ know her that well, he just knew the little things. But absurdly, after a few hours, she felt that he _should_ know her better. 

He didn't get up. He, being him, did the exact perfect thing and reached across the table to her. His warm fingers landed on her forehead and travelled smoothly down to her wet cheek.

She was afraid to look up, but she did anyway. And when she did, she saw not pity but understanding. It really _was_ horrible that they could never be. It really _was_ tragic that the only man she had ever felt this sort of immediate connection with could never possibly want her.

And as the tears flowed over his fingers and her hand rose up to grip his wrist, she wasn't sure if she was crying because of Krad or because of Dark.

--------

"So I told her 'If any guy stuck around after listening to you talk about your _underwear_, I'm pretty sure he's got more interest than you think'."

"Mm-hmm."

"I can't believe she did all that, personally. I know Riku, and she does not blabber everything out for guys to hear."

"No, that would be more your department."

"Shut up, Satoshi." 

"Pardon me, Miss Harada."

She looked at him in a hopefully non-seductive way. She didn't want to give him the wrong message after all, that is, the 'voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir' message. He, surprisingly, made the same face back.

The two had met at the counter of _Venti_ not long ago. Risa 'looking all like Riku', as Dark had put it, had been pointed out to Satoshi just as she stepped through the threshold. She ordered the same thing Satoshi went to get a refill for, and both drinks had come out at the same time. He handed her drink to her.

"Thank you."

"No problem, Miss Harada," he let slip. God, he really hated himself sometimes.

"... How do you know my name?"

And lo and behold, a sly-Dark-excusing-himself and a coffee later, here they were, walking around Tokyo and swapping stories (that was mostly Risa, really) about Dark and Riku like scheming chums. Well. Maybe not. It was _Satoshi_, after all.

"She honestly thinks he doesn't like her. I haven't even seen him with her yet, and even _I_ can tell. How blind can she be?"

"How do you know he likes her?"

"Like I said, the underwear!" 

Satoshi tried to ignore the strange looks they got from passersby at Risa's exclaimation. "More perceptive than you look, Miss Harada."

"Well..." she didn't know what to say. She didn't usually hang out with guys this... serious. And pensive. And she didn't usually feel like she needed to impress them either. Weird. "Thank you," was all she could come up with.

He tossed an amused look her way, a perfect mirror of Dark's amused looks. Spooky.

She pressed her lips together in a weird, wiggly line. She felt pressured to speak, strangely, in his quiet presence. "So I can assume that he does? Like her, that is."

"Yes," he said, letting a smidgen of his own opinion leak through.

"Satoshi?"

"Yes?" He looked mildly inquiringly at her.

"Do you think we'll need to encourage them a little?" Her eyes glinted dangerously. 

He raised his eyebrows, completely undaunted, and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Knowing Dark, we won't have to do anything."


	7. A Million Little Things

_Disclaimer: In an alternate universe, I _could _be Sugisaki and own them all. It's possible._

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: Thank you readers for the wonderful support! And hey, you're in luck because: super long chapter! Embarassing Dark x Riku situation up ahead! Also beware some more hairy emotional scenes. (I think I secretly love those.) This builds on the last chapter and gets them both up to a point where they have some revelations or are poised to have them. In other words, this is an Important chapter.

Dark: When's the story estimated to finish, oh authoress o' mine?

Sakura-Angel: I honestly have no idea. Anywhere between two and... five chapters?

Dark: Well, that's not a very large gap.

Sakura-Angel: Shush. I don't ask you to think, I ask you to stay hot.

Dark: Yes ma'am.

--------

Surprisingly enough, things weren't awkward with Dark after she'd cried in front of him. Twice. He was his normal self. He wasn't gushingly nice or freaked out at all, which surprised her. But then maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. Dark was shaping up to be pretty extraordinary. (Which she both loved and hated.)

"Alright," he said, thinking. He looked at the ceiling, as if it would give him ideas. "What's the most embarassing thing that's ever happened to you?"

"Oh, you don't want to hear that."

"Au contraire, mademoiselle. Now I am even more intrigued."

"Aww conflabalah to you too," she replied, and kicked up some water. She breathed in and out, as if preparing for 30 laps and _not_ just talking to some guy she liked. "It was in grade seven. I was over at a girl's house to work on a project. There were three of us, and we hardly knew each other because it was so early in the year."

"Uh-huh... and...?" he interjected, an eyebrow going up. He was always to the point with his answers, so he was impatient for hers. Impatient, but in a completely charming way of course.

"I'm still going. You need the full effect. Anyways. We were walking along in the slush, walking a dog for the project--"

"Since when do you _ever_ need to walk a do--"

"Not done here!" she exclaimed, kicking water up even higher into the air and getting Dark and herself wetter. "We were walking the dog, when Reiko slips on ice and splashes right into a puddle. She's sopping wet and the dog is starting to run laps around her, getting the leash all tangled. We're laughing so incredibly hard, I pee my pants. So I cover it up by pretending to slip on the ice and falling in the puddle. God, it was cold."

Dark shuddered with laughter, and to hold it in, crumpled inwards.

"It's not THAT funny!" she yelled at him, indignant and experiencing a new wave of embarassment.

"Yes, yes it is," he told her, and went back to concealing his laughter. Poorly.

She refused to just sit and let him laugh at her, so she decided to do a cannonball. She soaked him successfully enough, but he was laughing still.

She stopped being annoyed when choking replaced laughter. He must've inhaled some of the water she splashed on him! OhmyGod, he was going to choke and not stop and possibly undergo some lung failure and it was all her fault!

She hauled herself up out of the water fast as she could and grabbed his shoulders. So much for lifeguard training.

"Are you okay? Oh God, I am so dumb!" her voice was edging on shrill. Her eyes darted around his face frantically. Geez, he was turning a little red...

"Is something stuck?" Without waiting for his reply (again, training out the window...) she got behind him and tried to lift him up her leg (surprisingly, the only training that stuck...). Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Dark's windpipe, he was too heavy to be lifted.

"H-hey! I'm fi-nnne!" he coughed. "Nothing's stuck!"

She stopped trying to lift him. "Really?" she couldn't help but sound like a little kid. "You're sure?"

He coughed up a little laugh. "Ye-yeah."

Neither of them realized the intensely awkward position they were in until Keisuke, pesky little bugger that he was, slinked up and commented. "So you finally made your move, huh, Instructor Harada?"

She turned about ten different shades of red before finally freaking out and taking her hands off of Dark's naked upper body and letting him slide off her leg. Her mouth was a tense, screwy line.

Keisuke let out a laugh, put his googles on over his eyes, and walked away, chuckling all the way back to his lane.

Riku became a self-conscious robot, straightening up as high as she could. Oh _God_, she didn't even want to _think_ about who else had seen that. She was certain her face was giving off enough heat to compare with the sun.

While this was all happening, Dark sat on the deck letting his breathing get even again, cool as a cucumber. He was chuckling to himself, watching Riku look at anything but him, awkward as ever.

So cute.

--------

"Tell me you did it, 'Ku. I won't believe it until I hear it from you."

She sighed and leaned heavily on the counter, bracing herself for thunderous laughter. She already knew what he spoke of. "Yeah, I did it. What's it matter?"

Takeshi burst out laughing, as expected, and offered her no answer. He only took her drink from another bemused employee and passed it to her, coupling it with a straw.

"It's not _that_ funny." What was this? Laugh Endlessly At Riku Day?

"Contrary to popular belief," Takeshi got ahold of himself now, "It is."

She only gave him her look of steel; hard, blank eyes, solid mouth, neutral eyebrows. No effect. He'd known her for too long to be intimidated.

"I thought feeling up guys wasn't your style, my dear."

She was too easy to get riled up. "It's not! I wasn't _feeling him up!_" she exclaimed a bit too loudly. "I was _trying_ to save him...!"

"By touching his pectorals for an extended period of time. Yeah, good one, Riku."

She could feel her face flame. She hissed, "Say it _louder_, Tak, I don't think that guy on the far side of the track heard you!"

"I heard!" a voice called. Takeshi burst out laughing again.

She walked away abruptly to get back to the pool, her poor drink about to get its lid popped off by her insane grip.

"Hey 'Ku! Don't get too eager!" Takeshi's wonderfully annoying voice followed her down the hall. "I'm sure once is enough for him!"

"Not funny," she griped under her breath, and pushed through the turnstile, head down.

"Hey, Riku!"

Oh _please_, this was the last thing she needed... "Yes, Atsuro?" She turned to face him dejectedly.

"A call came for you. Your sister?"

She mentally sighed out of relief. "Oh. Thanks." She let herself into the front desk area to pick up the phone. "I can take over now."

"I'm sticking with you, Riku. Setsuka just left and ditched her shift. Apparently she has some Swiss massage." He looked at her pointedly, a you-know-what-I-mean expression evident. She couldn't help but laugh.

He smiled back in a friendly way, strangely enough, and spun in his chair just in time to help a woman and her son.

Riku dialed her sister's work. "Hello?"

"Hey, 'Ku?"

"Yeah. What'd you phone for earlier?" She couldn't help but twirl the cord around her finger.

"Listen. I ran into a friend of Dark's the other day--"

"Risa..." she started threateningly.

"And! And we got to talking about you and Dark, and he says he likes you."

"Dark says he likes me?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as low and emotionless as possible.

"No, Satoshi says Dark likes you. But it's the same anyways, right?"

"I wouldn't trust any of his friends as far as I could throw them," she said, thinking of Krad in passing.

"Oh you're just in denial. And Satoshi doesn't strike me as the type that would lie. But anyways. You _know_ hot-guy likes you..."

"Risa, stop jumping to your crazy conclusions. You haven't even talked to Dark yet! You don't know what he's like. He's the kind of guy who would be into six foot tall models with enormous breasts and teeny tiny brains."

"Do you really have so little confidence in yourself AND him to say tha--"

"Risa. You're my sister. I love you. But I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Fine. You'll get it soon enough. See you, 'Ku."

"Bye, Risa." She hung up, rolling her eyes. She realized the cord was twisted many times around many of her fingers.

"Hello, I'm in need of some help from the help desk," Dark gazed calmly at Riku, appearing out of nowhere. He had a black sleeveless shirt on that zippered right up to the neck, but he left his collarbone exposed, mock collar falling open around his neck. Her eyes rested on that stretch of skin. He had that necklace on that she'd seen on him the first day, and ridiculously she found herself wanting to be that necklace.

She snapped herself out of a daze. She made a gesture at Atsuro with her free hand. "You'll need to ask this gentleman. I'm sort of--"

"Tied up?" Dark made a point of looking at her hand wrapped in many layers of phone cord. "Actually, that was a cover. I really just need to steal you away." He winked.

"You'll need to disconnect me from the wall then," she answered, lifting the phone off the desk by lifting her hand. Her expression was carefully crafted to show no hint of embarassment, delight or amusement.

His, however, was not. Amusement was all over his face. "Well, in that case." And he leapt the counter.

Atsuro blinked. "That sort of defeats the purpose of a counter now, doesn't it."

His comment went unheard by Dark it seemed, because he went straight to Riku, now sitting, and began to untangle her.

She usually hated the heroics thing (and the seeming like a victim) but with Dark it didn't feel so bad. He wasn't slick and he didn't try to hold her hand or anything dumb like that. He was a modest knight in shining armour - a feat if she ever saw one - and it scared her. Slimy guys she could deal with, perverts she could deal with, but nice guys? Since when did _any_ of those come around?

He was working on the tangle around one of her fingers, red eyes unblinking. The look in his eyes was soft, gentle even, but steady. She wondered fleetingly if he had ever tangled himself up before like this, and the thought almost made her laugh. Dark in such an undignified position? Forget about it.

His fingers were warm, and he was close, _so_ close, that she could smell his scent, mingled with chlorine. He was being so gentlemanly, skin glowing from the water, eyes so _right_. Unbelievingly, she felt that this was one of the most intimate moments she had ever shared with him. Not the dancing, not the crying in his arms, but this.

She sat there, his fingers moving slowly over hers, and began to feel a million hidden tears hovering behind her eyelids.

She was no good at perfection. For him it was second nature, but for her it was unattainable. If by some twist of incredible luck he liked her and they took a stab at love perfect, love forever, would they work? They weren't even perfect as friends, their foundation cracked all over with her weakness and fear. To build off such a base would be suicide. They would fail, and love perfect, eternal would become love ruined, ephemeral. What was worse? Thinking that they could never be, or knowing it?

"There," he said with finality, and pulled the last of the cord from her thumb. "Fixed."

She looked up at him, eyes refocusing. His eyes were warm and he was smiling a comforting smile. As if he knew.

"Fixed," she echoed.

But she didn't feel like it. Not at all.

--------

Riku was being unusually quiet. Not that she was very talkative to begin with. She usually required some prodding, but she always responded. It was what friends did, right? They responded...

"I saw that you already had a drink, but I figure another couldn't hurt you. So let me get you one. Raspberry lemonade," he half-asked half-told her. He pivoted on his heel to look at her, and saw a blank expression, almost desolate. She truly was easy to read. A storm was brewing behind those eyes.

"A raspberry lemonade and a mango banana blend," he told the girl behind the counter, who ogled his behind without shame and glared at inert Riku without shame as well.

He sat back down, charm on his necklace swaying. "Riku."

Nothing.

What his instinct told him to do was take ahold of one of her hands. It really was the best attention grabber. But she was sitting on both of them.

"Hey, Harada. Chum. Pal." He leaned across the table in an attempt to look into her eyes and fish her out of whatever she was drowning in. "What's up?"

"Nothing."

It was an obvious lie, but he would never be so stupid to say so. "Riku, you don't have to pretend. Tell me? We're friends, right? We've done bad tangoes and shared shirts. I think there's some rule in a book that says that I'm entitled to know what's wrong."

Two drinks landed promptly in between the pair, a whoosh of sickly sweet perfume coming with them. Dark thanked the girl, indicating that she should leave. He was going to figure out what this was about.

"Please, Riku. If it has something to do with me-- I'm sorry. I can just tell that something's up, and it's got me worried."

Riku sat, absorbing his words and running them over and over again in her mind to test the truth behind them. She was really so lucky that she had this wonderful man so worried over her. But could she be thankful? She didn't feel like it. If anything, she felt... angry towards him. How could he be so perfect and wonderful and too good for her, and not know what was wrong with her?

Or maybe it was herself she was angry at. _You haven't let yourself go for a long time,_ a secret thought niggled at her. _You overthink things. Why won't you take a chance? Risk that heart of yours again? What's perfect anyway?_

She cut her own thoughts off, angry that she could be so undecided on something so important. She snapped, though she wasn't sure if she was snapping at Dark or herself, "Nothing's wrong."

Because that's what it was, right? Nothing. No relationship, nothing.

Dark furrowed his brow, disturbed. He was determined to find out what was wrong. He owed it to her, for giving him something to look forward to everyday when he woke up. For telling him Truths and stuttering and trying to resuscitate him. "Riku, I know you, okay? I know you, and I know that something isn't ri--"

"How can you say you know me?" she spoke, biting off her words savagely. She was full of shaky anger, and in her eyes he could've sworn he saw lightning flash behind dark clouds. "You don't know the first thing about me!"

"Riku, I've listened to you, I've hung around you. I can read you. I _know_ something's wro--"

She shot up and out of her seat. "No! No, Dark! You might know a million stupid details about me, but you do not know who I am!" her words slapped him hard in the face. "You don't know me, because if you did, you'd know that I'd like a little space! You'd know that I don't appreciate being told what kind of a person I am! You'd know that you- you make me so... so..." she halted herself, lest those gathered tears spill.

Dark bowed his head, shamed. It was then that he realized that she was right. He didn't really _know_ her. For all the little things he knew about her, like her favourite kind of chocolate and that she got a cute, fierce blush when flustered, he didn't really _know_ her. He didn't know about her family or about the places she had travelled. He didn't know what had influenced her in her youth. He didn't know enough about what was going on in her life to grasp at what could have her so down. He had a million little pieces, but he didn't have the glue, the thing that brought it all together. This new revelation bothered him.

He hazarded a glance at her.

She was breathing heavily. She looked just as blank as before, now staring at the purple straw of her raspberry lemonade. He had a feeling that she wasn't really looking at it though, and was just off in her world. There was something bleary in that gaze. She had an expression of unbearable sadness.

"I think I have to go home," she finally spoke with a tight throat, eyes still unfocused. "Would you tell Atsuro I'm sorry." And she turned her back to him, swaying but not falling.

"I'm sorry," he said, meaning it as a apology for his far below adequate comforting and his not knowing her well enough. But somehow it just sounded like an echo of her own apology. "I'm sorry."

--------

Riku walked the streets as a ghost, rattled, listless and overcome with all the feelings she had towards this one man.

It was unthinkable that she could have such... _complicated_ feelings towards someone! She had only known him for a couple weeks, and even then, she only knew a few bits and pieces. All she knew for sure was that the attraction was instantaneous. She was like a moth to his flame. It was frustrating how much she was drawn to him. But as time went on, she wasn't just attracted. She was thankful - he was so nice to her, so compassionate that night in his kitchen. She was angry - how could he reverse her poles with so much as a simple look? She didn't understand. She was happy, she was sad. She was shaken completely to the core by all he made her feel. And she knew now, for sure after the blow-up, that she _liked_ him. A lot.

She shuddered in the sudden cold. It looked like rain. She hadn't thought to bring a coat, what with it being July. Maybe Mother Nature had it in for her. Or some strange celestial forces. They tossed Dark into her life right after the disaster that was Krad, and now they gave her what looked like a huge storm.

As the rain poured down and soaked Riku to the bone, she laughed. This was as bad as it could possibly get, wasn't it? She was raw from Krad and from Dark and now from herself, and she knew that it was because she was such a fool to let them affect and direct her actions. She had blown up at a man she genuinely liked with such a half-baked arguement, adding one more undesirable quality about herself to an already long list. She had driven him off for good. She hated herself.

So she splashed in the puddles, spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning, and hoped she would catch a cold.


	8. Harada Riku Speaking

_Disclaimer: I don't own 'em._

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: Mmkay. Don't worry about the less serious turn this chapter will take. There is definitely a reason for it. Think of it as in between time for the intense stuff. So yeah... that said, Satoshi really shines in this chapter. Oh, and Dark, silly guy that he is, thinks he's got everything worked out again. Silly, silly boy. Aaaand I would like to thank all the people reading this story! I don't do it enough. You guys are super awesome!

--------

Nine floors up from the hustle and bustle of a wednesday morning was Harada Riku.

"AH-CHOO!"

With a cold. Her legs stuck out from underneath a pitfully small blanket, feet freezing cold, forehead blazing hot.

"I can't believe you'd do something so reckless--"

"You can sabe it, Riza. I know what you're goink to say."

"-As splashing around in giant puddles, fall asleep immediately when you get home, and then not change your clothes!" The younger twin yelled at her apparently brainless sister. "Why would you do something like that? _You're_ supposed to be the responsible one!"

"Yeah. I got that." Riku attempted a 'sympathize-with-me' look on the blue-eyed man standing in her bedroom doorway, but ended up instead looking vaguely like 'sleep-with-me'. Bleary and frustrated at this failure, she waved a hand in his direction. "Bwat is he doing here?" she asked her sister. She paused, thought for a second, and opened her mouth again. "Actually, who is he?"

"Hikari Satoshi," the young man replied, stepping forward and extending a hand. Risa rummaged some more.

"Pleased to bmeet you," she said and shook his hand, not even bothered by how highly irregular this all was. "Doctor Higari Sadoshi?"

"No, just plain ol' Hikari Satoshi I'm afraid," he sounded somewhere between geniunely sorry and extremely amused. As tall as he was, he had to look down on her a great deal, with her sprawled out over her mattress.

"So if you don't bind my asking," she said, head clearing up the tiniest bit, "What are you doing here?"

He inclined his head in Risa's direction as the rummaging noises grew louder and more frantic. "Your sister insisted."

She nodded, as if this all made sense now. "Bi see." Even through the disgusting levels of mucus and two extra degrees Celsius she had on her, the cogs and wheels in her brain began to turn. "And... how egg-actly do you know each other?"

He pondered how to answer this question in a way that would increase the noises of fevered rummaging. "I had handed her drink to her at a coffeehouse when she struck up a conversation," he said smoothly. The distant crash and muffled, frustrated squeak was music to his ears.

Riku sat up now, her eyebrows going up in a sly way. "Reeeeally. Dat doesn't sound li--"

"That's not how we met!" Risa came stomping over, hair in disarray and pink in the cheeks with a blanket in hand.

"Would you care to tell her, then?" The blue-haired not-doctor smiled mildly at her sister. He did everything in a watered-down sort of way, as if doing any more was simply too large of a bother. While this was true, he didn't come off as lazy, but rather as mysterious. Eerie.

"He handed me my drink, said my name, and I wondered how he knew it--"

"Whereupon you struck up a conversation with me," Satoshi finished, and if Riku didn't know any better, she'd say he looked the tiniest bit playfully arrogant.

"I did not-!"

"Miss Harada, we can argue this all day. But the truth remains-"

"You know how he knew my name?" Risa changed the topic abruptly, turning her back to the man and focusing on Riku.

She indulged her sister. "How?"

"He's friends with Dark!" she delivered the news happily, beaming.

That was when Riku's face crumpled.

Risa's expression fell immediately after her sister's. "What? What happened?"

Riku considered just how gossiping about Dark could affect Satoshi's impression of her, but she figured that things were just about as shit as they could get. "I... sort of blew up at him," she mumbled, avoiding both their gazes.

Satoshi stared out her window impassively.

"_Why?_" her sister asked, not angry or upset, but with actual curiosity.

She flopped down on the bed and gave herself a headrush in reverse. She blew her nose to clear up her sinuses. She didn't need to sound even worse, really. "I... I don't know. He just makes me so..." she groped for the right words. Risa gave her a funny look.

"Weird," she said, disappointed in her vocabulary. "He makes me weird, okay? He... rescued me from the phone cord and I had all these thoughts running through my head and I just got so irritated, like when you blasted your stupid ultra-pop music when we were little..."

"RikuRikuRiku. You _are_ weird. You're talking about phone cords and music preferences." When Risa received a perfect imitation of the funny look she had given Riku, she sighed audibly. "Expand."

Satoshi cleared his throat. Both women looked at him. It was unsettling, having two people who looked so much alike move alike as well.

"Would it be too much of an intrusion if I browsed your music collection?" he asked, trying to let them have their privacy but being too polite to say so.

Riku lifted a hand, shooing him. "Go ahead." As soon as he left, Riku mouthed "He's nice!" in a sneaky way, which Risa ignored. The younger twin was determined to keep this off Satoshi and on her sister. "You were saying?"

Riku sighed quietly. "Alright. I got tangled up in the phone cord when you phoned me at work. He untangled me. He was being so nice about it, not gross or anything. And while he was doing it, I drove myself crazy thinking about what we could be--" she halted herself. "This is stupid. I hardly know him. Why am I so hung up on him?"

"Because," her sister answered with surprising speed, "You can feel something, 'Ku. It doesn't matter how long you've known him. If you're this crazy about him, why don't you just ask him out already?"

This idea stupefied her, made her numb. For a few seconds at least. "No!"

"Why?" Risa responded, quick as lightning. Her grip on her temper was loosening. "It doesn't matter if you told him all that crap about yourself, or if you blew up at him! What matters is that he _stuck around_. Get this through your head, 'Ku-" here she grabbed her sister's shoulders, assertive and completely different from the Risa she used to be- "_He likes you._"

Riku shook her head, taking the prize for Best Case of Denial. This only made Risa angrier, so she shook her sister once to get her attention.

"And you know what's the best part about it, 'Ku? Take a guess. He likes you _in spite_ of all that stuff. He already knows the most embarassing things about you, the things you hate the most, the stuff that makes you cry... and he still likes you." She let her arms fall. "I'd kill for that. I know a ton of girls who dream about that. But guess what? It's happened to you. Appreciate it for what it is."

Riku let herself slip a bit, gnawing her lower lip.

What if Risa was right? When she said it that way she made it sound like a fairytale. Dark was her good, faithful prince who made her laugh, who she felt that spark in the first day they met. He saved her from unlawful phone cords and paid for her drinks in full.

But still.

What if it didn't work? What if their relationship didn't amount to even half of all her fantasies and dreams and musings of them together? (Okay, yes, she thought about it.) What if they weren't as good?

"Oh, Risa..." she said softly. Her lips trembled and her heartbeat went all out of whack, just like that first day. "What if..."

And then a ring went off.

Risa checked her cellphone on impulse - not her. Riku checked her cellphone, sure she was going to get cussed out by Mariko, but luckily, it wasn't her either. Which left...

"Hello, Dark," came Satoshi's voice from the living room. "Yes..."

Riku felt an almost physical blow at his name, reminded of why she and her sister had ended up talking in the first place.

"No, I can't make it," she heard Satoshi say. "Ask someone else along. Daisuke. Emiko."

Riku felt her stomach twist at the mention of another girl, then felt stupid immediately after. She stole a quick glance of her sister, and saw that she was listening too.

"Of course you can take her. She is your mother..." Riku spluttered at this, holding back a laugh in her shaky state.

"I'm not joking," Satoshi deadpanned. He opened his mouth to reply to something Dark was saying, but then shut it again, looking mildly hostile. "Harada's... no, Riku's. Don't be frantic. I hate it when you're frantic... I'm here because I was invited." Now Satoshi shot a look at Riku sitting on her bed, and raised his eyebrows. She promptly blushed. He'd known she was listening.

"You're making an ass out of yourself. If you're so concerned, why don't you speak with her?" Satoshi handed his phone to her, and she had no choice but to accept it. She wondered if she should apologize to him for her snapping at him, but before she knew it, the receiver was at her mouth.

"Hello?"

"What is Satoshi doing at your house?" Dark asked immediately, and they both knew that with that question, Satoshi's accusation of his sounding frantic was true.

"It's an apartment. And um, he was invited--"

"That's what he said too! Tell me the truth--"

"-- by my sister."

Dark blanched. He was lucky she couldn't see him right now, because he was sure his mouth was hanging open, a most unusual position for his mouth to be in, to say the least. He'd have to kill Satoshi later. Stupid, conniving, implying-stuff... _guy_. Who knew he could be so... so fiendish? "Ah," he managed, with aforementioned open mouth.

She was now registering a feeling of fatigue, and honked her nose again. It seemed that he was choosing to ignore the fact that she had blown up at him not twenty-four hours ago this conversation around. "If I didn't dow any better," she said blankly, "I'd say you were freaking out."

His jaw dropped the tiniest bit lower before he commenced to shut it. A recovery came to him easily though, like slipping on a glove. "I was, but not over what you might think."

"So, _not_ your friend at my apartbent at nine in the morning?"

"Oh no, far from it," he lied smoothly, picking imaginary lint from his shirt, adding to the nonchalant effect. "Are you sick?"

Riku fell for it, and tried to conceal her sounding disappointed. "Um, yes. What tipped you off?"

"'Apartbent'."

The way he said it was so blunt, she felt herself get warmer, and not from a fever. She felt a tremor in her arm holding the cellphone up. "Right. So, um... what were you getting shrill over, anyway?"

He took a sip of coffee. "I have this sponsorship dinner friday night and our friend Satoshi has ditched me."

"Sponsorship?" Out of all the things to pick on, she picked this one.

"Yes. I swim. Remember, Riku? The Olympic swimmer who depends upon funding to go to the Olympics? The one who comes to your humble pool each day to practi--"

"Okay, okay. You can stop mocking me now," she sighed, settling into banter mode. She put a hand to her forehead. No fever. That was funny.

There was about fifteen seconds of silence, which does not seem like a great deal of silence but in actuality is, especially when you're over the phone with a guy you're pretty much aching to apologize to...

"Dark. Um, about yesterday..."

"Not now."

"Heh?" Not her most attractive noise. "Do you even know what I'm talking about?"

"Yes. Not over the phone. Please."

She blinked, feeling that little dip in her mood again. "Oh. Um. Okay."

Another pause.

So he didn't want to talk about it. At least not over the phone. She knew for a fact that he was not an avoider (that game of Truth), so she supposed he just wanted to talk it out face to face. Whenever that would happen.

"... So will you come?"

She was operating on about two-thirds of her systems, so it was understandable that she couldn't keep up a normal conversation. Still, she felt like a moron when she let out a "Huh?"

He sounded so calm, reasonable and in control. Which he pretty much always did, save for two minutes ago. "The dinner. Will you come with me?"

Now it was Riku's turn to let her jaw hang. The switch from deep-meaningful-things-unsaid to setting-up-playdates had caught her off-guard. "Like a... date...?" She turned her head slowly to Risa and Satoshi - Risa nodded wildly, Satoshi examined the windowsill.

"Yeah, I guess," came the reply. Dark crammed his free hand in his pocket and traced the edge of his housekey. "Remember - we're still playing, and it's my turn. Be honest." He smiled, and he hoped she could hear it somehow.

Her brain was stuttering. She rummaged around for excuses. "I'm sick."

"If, by friday, you're better..." he trailed off, still smiling slightly.

She was just dreaming up another excuse when Risa's words came to mind.

_It doesn't matter that you told him all this crap about yourself. He stuck around. Get this through your head: _he likes--

And then she stopped dreaming.

"Yes."

Dark took another sip of his coffee, purple strands nearly falling into his cup. "Great. It's at eight. Wear something hot. It'll be an even--"

"Dark!"

"What? I'm being serious. Wear red or something. You'd look not just pretty, you'd look--"

"You know what? Satoshi needs his phone back!" she exclaimed, feeling more energized than she had in hours. "I'll talk to you later!" And she pulled the phone from her ear before he could protest with that perfect voice of his and go on about how she'd look in something strapless.

"Here," she said, thrusting the cell at Satoshi.

He looked away from his view of downtown and Risa's hair (he was rathering enjoying the play of light on auburn on chocolate, but whatever), taking the phone and sticking it in the pocket of his dress pants.

"He didn't even talk about the yelling?" the younger twin asked.

"We did, but he didn't want to really discuss it... until later."

"So... what's happening with that date?" Risa switched gears, the mistress of avoidance that she was (well, Riku and her could share the title). Her eyes lit up not unlike a predator's before lunging.

"We're going to a dinner party. Friday. If I'm not sick. Which I probably will be..." She fidgeted with the blankets, sure her temperature was up.

"Oh, just say it, 'Ku. You're going to dinner with Mousy Dark, and you're excited about it."

"Risa!" she exclaimed indignantly. She blushed and swung her gaze towards Satoshi, who was, embarassingly enough, looking right at her.

"Oh no, it's alright. I'm used to it," he said calmly, fully aware that this would make her turn even redder. "Young women always gush over him, though I can't figure out for the life of me why," he said, neither very distressed or inquisitive. She was sure this was the longest sentence she'd ever heard him say.

"Jealous, are we?" Risa elbowed him lightly in the side, and he immediately wore his watered down expression of offense at this.

"Not in the least," he stated. "What I can't figure out is why they always do it in front of me."

Risa stuck her tongue out at him, became alarmed at how immature the action was and what he thought of her now, and then turned to her sister to take her mind off Satoshi (despite the fact that he was standing about a foot away from her). "So... are you going to apologize next time you see him?"

"Well, yeah." She eased into her pillows as she said this. "But I have a feeling there's going to be more to it than just that."

--------

Many blocks away at _Venti_, Dark snapped his cellphone closed, giving an amused shake of his head. That girl was... a piece of work.

He had to admit he was wary of how she'd speak to him after yesterday. She was the angriest he'd ever seen her, and with the way she was shaking from excess adrenaline, he could be sure she didn't get angry often. He must have _really_ pissed her off.

Maybe it was the sickness, or the obligatory drugs that go along with sickness, but she was calmer now. Maybe even the usual Riku - spunky, nervous, cute. Well, even if she was the same as before, _they_ weren't the same as before.

After she'd left he'd just sat and thought about it more. He _didn't_ know her. Not that this had effected them before, but now that he was aware of this, the concept of _them_ changed. He knew all these tiny things, these frivolous facts about her. He thought he knew her. But she was clearly more complicated than he thought.

He'd understand that complicated nature. He would. He'd _understand_, and not just _know_. Because that was how much she mattered to him.

So he asked her to the dinner friday night to the hopefully-not-as-snobby-as-last-time dinner, and they'd talk there for sure. About his not knowing her.

Funny as it was to believe, Dark was a firm believer in the perfect moment. (No apologizing over phones, no, they were going to do it _right_.) He wanted things to be opportune, seamless. He didn't like hitches, and so he became an expert at overcoming them. And this was one such hitch.

But no matter. It was only a hitch after all. One snag in the grand scheme of things. Everything would work out in the end. He was _Dark_ after all.

(Unfortunately for him, he did not consider that this was _Riku_ after all.)


	9. Epiphany

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of these super cool characters. Not legally anyway. (Here's lookin' at you, Dark.)_

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: Aaaand here is chapter nine. I am sorry for the wait, _believe_ me. This chapter was truly painful to write. I kept scrapping it, convinced I was crap, heh. It's quite long this time around, a lengthy segue into chapter ten and The "Date". Riku reveals some more insecurities, discovers the root of some of her problems with Dark, and gets hassled and dolled up. Stick with me, readers! It's only gonna get better from here on.

--------

"It's fine, really."

"Are you sure? I could just go check..."

"No, this colour is fine," the unnaturally attractive man told the salesgirl, giving his clothed arm an affectionate pat. "Red is perfect."

"Well... okay," she said, not really putting up much of a fight to start with. He _did_ look very good in the shirt. She walked away, tossing a shy look over her shoulder at him before disappearing behind the counter.

Dark turned back to the mirror. Hm, the shirt matched the colour of his eyes. Was that bad? Oh well.

He usually didn't buy things for occasions, but his other red shirt went a bit blobby, and he needed a new one anyway.

And wouldn't that be something if Riku heeded his advice and wore red? They'd match. That'd be sort of lame, but hell, her wearing red would be enough to make up for it.

He turned away from the mirror and headed for the change room.

Hmm, Riku in an off-shoulder something. Riku in a ruffled-at-the-bottom something. Riku in a cut-off-above-the-knee something. Nah, that was stretching it too far. He then felt bad about judging her fashion sense. He didn't really know that, did he? What if she did show up in something like that?

He felt that way about everything concerning her lately. He questioned: was that true? Did it really happen? What did he assume, come to his own conclusion on? What had she told him? He was normally so good at keeping things straight, knowing without looking how much money he had in his wallet, or just how many apples he had left in his fridge. Not knowing all this for sure felt alien to him.

He didn't like tip-toeing around things, but he was afraid that if he tried to make it up to her in some way, she'd get mad again. Or even worse, sad. Like... presenting her with a saxophone (she _did_ say she wanted to play, right?) or discovering what 'kick the bucket' reffered to (he was _pretty sure_ it was that phrase...) He was freaked out that in acting like he knew her he'd light another fuse.

He'd told her that first day they'd met that she was readable. Her emotions were so ready-to-wear that it was easy to tell how she was feeling. And her face revealed little things too (that it could be steeled for a mad game of poker). But the problem was that he didn't know any deeper than that. She was a mystery that way.

This girl was interesting, all right. He spent his downtime thinking of her, the way he never had with anyone else he'd had interest in. Not even girls he'd gone out with. Now that was saying something.

He doubted what this interest was. Was it good old-fashioned curiosity? Was it like? Was it love? That might be taking it too far. Like was true. He liked her. But did he... _like_ her? (He winced at his grade school terminology.) 

Dark analyzed things too much at times, despite the fact that he was more instinctive. And when he did get to thinking, he could sit on it for hours at a time, or come back to it as if he'd never stopped. And he'd allowed this indulgence with Riku.

He laughed at himself. It wasn't like him to detect he liked someone before feeling it. He usually saw something close-up before observing it at a distance.

Not that he really wanted that distance between them anyway.

--------

Riku scoured her closet.

It was friday, and much to her dismay(?), her cold had cleared up. She couldn't make up an excuse because she had to go to work and would undoubtedly see Dark there, who would see her being un-sick and entirely able to go to dinner functions.

Dress. She didn't own any dresses! She hadn't worn a dress for... ever! The last clear memory she had of wearing a dress was when she was fifteen and had gone to her odd, scrawny, hypochondriac aunt's wedding. Her waist was like, twenty-five inches then! Jeebus.

Okay. Buy a dress. Not too difficult, right? She just had to be at work in twenty minutes, and would have about three hours before the dinner started. On top of hair, makeup (as much as she hated the stuff, this seemed to require it), jewellery, shoes...

Oh, dear God. She was going to die. Actually.

Then a sensible thought shot into her mind: Call Risa.

She grabbed a sweater before heading out the door (after that downpour, she didn't want to take her chances), and hit her first programmed speed dial.

"Hey, sis. What's up?"

"Risa, I need some help."

"Well, isn't this a nice change."

She was tempted to tell her sister to shut up, but sensed that she'd have a harder time getting help that way. "I need you to help me pick out a dress." 

"Ooh, for the dinner, right? Isn't that tonight?" 

Riku walked up to the bus stop just as her bus pulled up. "Yes. And I own no dresses."

Risa grimaced, making a hissing noise of false pain. "Oh, 'Ku. That hurts me to hear you say that..."

"Will you help?" she asked her sister forcefully, implying that she better or else get taught a lesson. She flashed her boarding pass to Kanzaki and took a seat. 

"Of course. It's practically my duty as a fashionista. I have to say, I am ashamed that you do not own one single dress. What are you, Riku?"

"A flesh-eating monster," she replied, deadpan. When the guy sitting across from her smirked, she nearly blushed. She had a lot of practice holding back blushes.

"A hopelessly lost girl in need of guidance! You are getting a full education on material, matching shoes and bags and designer labels." 

"No! Risa, I just need you to guess at my size, pick out some nice dresses and have them ready for five thirty when I'll come by. Please?"

Her sister sighed audibly. "Fine. But I'm coming with you for your shoes and bag and hair an--" 

"Thanks," she said, cutting Risa off on purpose, but not without sincerity in her voice.

"Hey, you've been so good to me. I figure I should repay you somehow." Riku could tell she was shifting in her chair as she spoke. "And what better way than to help you bag a second date with such a hunk?" 

"It's not a date! There will be no second date! And stop using that word!" she practically yelled into her phone.

"What do you prefer? Hottie? Dreamboat? Sex in a--"

"Goodbye, Risa!" And she snapped the phone closed, flustered over a phone conversation for the second time in three days. She sighed, tired. Though of what, she wasn't sure.

"Your stop, Miss Harada," the bus driver announced, sounding amused.

"Thanks, Kanzaki," she said, feeling a little put out as she got off. 

As she walked through the doors and felt the scent of chlorine hit her nose, pungent and wonderfully familiar, she sensed that something was amiss. She couldn't place her finger on it, but there was something ever so slightly off...

"RIKU!" 

She whirled to find Takeshi standing just to her left, out of her peripheral vision. "Tak--"

"Why didn't you tell me you're going out with Dark Mousy tonight, huh? You sly dog..."

"What? How do you know that?"

"It's practically all we talked about yesterday! And this morning too! We've all come to the consensus that you're going to have beautiful children. Provided they all take after Dark."

He could've sworn he saw Riku double in size that moment. "Saehara Takeshi, I am going to PUMMEL you!"

"Hey! I was just kidding..."

"Takeshi, you JERK!"

He never expected her to actually physically harm him, until he registered that she had both hands around his neck.

"Don't think I don't know how to choke you in the most precise way so that not even the Heimlich can fix you!" She yelled, throat feeling raw for some reason. She was very aware of a volatile sadness, crawling up from her ribcage and reaching over her collarbone to grip her throat.

The noise he started to produce made her waver. He sounded somewhat like a dying goat, still bleating. She let go. 

He fell over onto the stairs, holding up a weak hand, afraid she'd come back for more. "I'm... so-sorry. Reek..."

She collapsed on the stairs beside him, giving no heed to her tailbone. Her head was buried in her hands in an instant. "And I'm sorry, Tak."

He lay crumpled on the stairs for a few more seconds, catching his breath. It was then that he heard her breaths - wet, not dry.

"Hey, 'Ku. What's going on?" He peered at her hunched form. He placed a hesitant hand on her back. 

"I don't know, Tak," she answered mournfully. She bat at her nose, willing it to stop leaking. "I'm just a wreck." 

He let out a small laugh, a warm one. "I can tell. Hey. The date is still on, right?"

She simultaneously wished he'd stop calling it a date and that he'd keep on doing it. "Yes," she said, and hated how drippy and weak she sounded.

"So why so miserable?" he asked, channelling all his consoling power. He wasn't used to this. She was always so solid.

"Oh I don't know, Tak. I'm so ungrateful. I like him, he asks me to dinner. What more could I ask for?"

He said nothing, unsure of what to say. Luckily, she went on.

"I just... he's just. He's so... perfect. You know what I mean?"

He blinked, not following her train of thought. "You don't like it that he's perfect?"

"No. I mean-- I like it. Or I don't. It's just. Everyone's talking about how he's so good-looking, and great, and wonderful... I'm just afraid..." She shook her head, wanting to drop the topic.

"Tell me," he said. His leg was beginning to go numb, and his back hurt from bending over so much, but he figured if nothing else, this he could do. He gave her an extra pat.

She turned to face him, hiding only half her face behind her hands now. "I'm afraid... he'll just have this thing. A... a what's it called. A moment of realization." She felt her eyes tear up at the effort of remembering. She was too stupid to even remember a simple word.

He winced inwardly. Tears? Forming in Riku's eyes? He'd never seen her cry. She was always too tough for that. "An epiphany?" he saved her, utilizing his stunning journalist's vocabulary.

"Yes! An- an epiphany," she lit up suddenly, pathetically, at his saying the word. "An epiphany. I'm afraid he'll have an epiphany, and realize that one day he's too perfect and amazing to be with me." She slouched further with saying this.

"Hey, you never told me this before," Takeshi said, inching closer to her and dipping his head lower to see her face.

She felt that she embodied everything pitiful in the world. "I never felt like this before."

"Oh, 'Ku," he said sympathetically. He had come to his own understanding, with his tendency to simplify complicated things such as this. His hand had never left her back. "I think I know what this is." 

"Inadequacy?" she sniffled, finally gaining control of her rebellious nose.

"No," he said simply. He rose from the stairs, tailbone complaining. He held out a hand to her, and pulled her gently up.

"What is it?"

"You know what it is," he said cryptically, knowing that guessing would take her mind off how inadequate she thought was.

"Tell me," she beseeched him, using her semi-watery eyes to their best advantage.

He laughed, "Nope. You can figure it out for yourself." He began to walk up the steps.

"You better not say it's love," she called after him, shuddering at the word.

"I'm not saying anything," he said simply. He wiped his hands on his apron, as if it were an involuntary action. "I'll make you a banana smoothie. With some nutmeg." 

She figured she had little dignity to salvage at this point, so she lay her head on the counter all while he made her drink, thinking.

Why wasn't that good enough for her? He had asked her to go to the dinner with him, that obviously meant something. 

He liked her, didn't he? He wouldn't just jerk her around. He had proved his worthiness time and time again. He was amazing, and every cell in her body screamed this to her.

She felt that tug of sadness and irritation again at the thought of his being so wonderful, and how undeserving she was of him because of this annoyance. But there was still something else. Something else that bothered her somewhere in the middle of it all, like a stubborn little thorn.

"Thinking about it?" A cup of yellow something was set in front of her nose.

"Yes." She worked hard to focus her eyes on Takeshi.

He was looking at her with a hint of concern in his eyes. She knew he was going to be more watchful from now on, and felt a surge of thankfulness for having a friend like him.

He came around the counter, ignoring a protest from another employee. "You're going to be all right today, right?" She knew he was talking about the dinner too.

"I should be," she couldn't hate how uncertain this sounded.

They had never really touched each other much, so after he had rested his hand on her back so much already, she was surprised when his fingers landed to the right of her forehead. He gently scrunched her bangs, palm resting on her temple. The action was so like him, awkward and big brother-y. 

"You're strong. And smart. You'll figure it out." 

She bit the inside of her lip. Strong? Lately, she seemed to cry three times before the day run out. "Thanks."

His hand dropped to hit the outside of his thigh, and he started back around the counter to appease his coworker. "Don't forget your drink."

"Thanks." Her eyes lit on the cup. "For everything," she added.

Takeshi gave her a firm nod, and was then promptly slapped by his coworker (the staring girl). He winced, tossing Riku a martyred look, to which she smiled. 

--------

_You'll figure it out._ Takeshi's words came back to her throughout the day.

All through her three classes, she thought about Dark and her problems while managing to avoid Dark himself. (He seemed to want to lay low as well, and she wouldn't let herself interpret this further.) It was only until the beginning of the third class that she realized that maybe it wasn't _her_ problems that were bothering her so much, but _Dark's_. 

He was a closed book. He was so immeasurably nice and interesting (and, okay, good-looking), that she hadn't had time to notice it before, but he didn't talk much about himself. Where he knew so many tiny details about her, she knew next to nothing about him. Sure, they had that ongoing game of Truth, but that was more for The Big Things. His worst childhood memory (overbearing father), or what he was most afraid of (losing, she needed to find out exactly what this meant). But. But he still held back during that, offering up tidbits with disinterest and then listening fully to hers. She also didn't know the small things like his favourite colour or what his favourite genres of music were. She could guess, but it wasn't as good or as satisfying as the real thing. She needed these little pieces, she felt, because the more she had, clearer would her picture be of Dark Mousy. She wanted to piece these together, wanted him to give them to her. Just as she had done for him.

By the end of her last class and her subsequent changing and rushing out of the pool hurriedly, she was surprised to find Risa waiting in the parking lot with a car, definitely not hers. (Risa didn't drive, just like Riku. Though for different reasons.)

"Hey, who'd you steal this from?" she greeted her sister as she ducked inside the car. Light beige-ish leather, firm seats, dust-free everything. 

"Satoshi. I begged him for like, an hour. He gave in pretty fast when I said it was for you and Dark though." Risa winked.

Riku only raised her eyebrows, not allowing her sister any pleasure.

Risa didn't huff, as expected, merely went on explaining. "So we're driving down to my workplace. I've got five dresses picked out, and possible shoes and bags for three of the five outfits. Have you thought about hair, perfume, that stuff?" 

She answered truthfully. "I think you've thought about this more than I have."

Now Risa gasped. "'Ku! This is a _big_ thing. You've got to look your best. How you present yourself to others says a lot about what you think of yourself." 

"Is that your company motto?" Riku answered sourly, fiddling with the air conditioning. "It's hot in here." 

"No," Risa said, upbeat. "It's true. And if you don't want to look like you care, you might as well just tell Dark that you weren't listening to him half the time that day in the coffee shop, and that you were really thinking about how hot he was." She was clearly excited, prattling on.

"I never told you that!"

Risa smiled, finally getting her desired freakout. "You didn't have to. We're sisters. I know how your mind works."

So Riku clammed up the rest of the ride, just in case Risa could read more of what she felt.

-------- 

"You look great. Pretty. Maybe even as good as me." 

"Ha-ha."

Risa stepped a bit closer to her sister, pulling her fingers through Riku's large, loose curls. "Really. I bet when you leave tonight, his heart will break a little."

She said nothing to this, merely gazed at her reflection.

Her hair was curled at the bottom, tresses collected in a half-up do, casual and not too severe. Her makeup was virtually nothing, despite Risa's insistence that blue eyeshadow would make her eyes pop. She opted for no perfume, no four-inch heels and no super-strappy anything. The fabric of her dress cut just below her collarbone, the neckline bagging just slightly. The straps crossed over her shoulderblades, a simple 'x' across her half-exposed back. The dress hugged her curves enough to keep her comfortable, the hem just above the ankle.

She had to admit, she looked good. She didn't really expect to, since the dress was not something she usually would have worn. Now was one the times to hand it to her sister.

"Now, keep your phone in this," Risa instructed her, like a mother speaking to a teenager going out for their first time. A small dark red purse was thrust at her. "Call me if you need advice. Or support. Or anything. Be yourself, but not enough that it embarasses him in front of whatever committee is there."

"Risa!" she hissed.

"Calm down!" Her twin held back a smile (but not very well). "Sorry. Now let's get in the car, I'll drive you home in your excellent dress, shoes, and jewellery, and Hunk will pick you up from there." 

Riku didn't even bother correcting her sister this time, instead replying, "Yes, mother."

She was home within fifteen minutes, which gave her exactly eighteen minutes more to stress and worry about the rest of the evening.

"You'll do great! Better than great! You'll probably get a few catcalls!" Risa had given Riku her usual wordy encouragement upon dropping her off. Riku had groaned then, but now, feeling like she might be hurled into The Great Emancipator, almost wished it could be true.

A buzzing came, and Riku actually jumped in her (not-so) high heels. She walked briskly to her intercom.

"Riku, a _Dark_ is here," announced the snippy doorman.

"Tell him I'm coming down." That was strange. Were her palms always this sweaty? She considered wiping them on her dress, but that seemed a bad option. She settled for kleenex.

She told herself it would be _fine_, possibly even more than fine, and headed out her door, keys swinging from her ring finger.


	10. The Perfect Evening

_Disclaimer: I secretly own Dark. And Daisuke. And Kosuke. And Emiko. And... dammit, I love them all, but I don't own a thing._

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: And so "The Date" begins. 'Tis super long for your reading enjoyment. I don't think I should say much, because people have been prodding me for so long to write "The Date" they probably skipped this anyway.  
Anyway, for those still reading this, if you could be bothered to, tell me how I did with this chapter?

--------

His neck was going sore.

"... Pachebel. It is a _the_ most _beautiful_ song. I was thinking of having it play at my wedding..."

He strained to keep his head up. "Mm-hm," Dark agreed politely, not really listening to the natterings of Riku's utterly creepy doorman. Already, the man had given Dark hungry looks, like the purple-haired swimmer was a particularly delectable dessert. It was. So. Creepy.

"Riku! Thank g-- You're here!" Dark exclaimed, immediately lighting from his waiting spot to greet her.

"Dark!" she exclaimed in kind, surprised at his yelling her name. ... Why was he doing that?

As soon as he came close, she whispered, "What's wrong?" Her vision then focused from his perfectly messy hair to over his shoulder, at her doorman. Glaring. "Um..."

"It's nothing," he whispered back, though his voice seemed a tad strained. "Later." He jerked his head to the door leading outside.

She dumbly let him entwine their arms together and pull her through the door.

The second they were out, Dark let out a small breath, like the inside of her apartment building was underwater.

Thoughts of possible strained evening conversation she was expecting were mounting. "What's wrong?" she tried again.

Dark's eyes flickered, remembering something foul. "Your doorman."

"Oh. He can be mean sometimes. Well, a lot of the time..."

"Really? He seemed overly _friendly_ to me." His hair fell in his eyes as he opened the passenger's side door for her.

She stepped in, afraid she'd nick herself with her heels or something stupid. She looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

He held up a finger as a signal to wait, closed her door, and walked around to the driver's side. Upon entering, he stuck the keys in immediately, as if making his escape. "What do you think?" Now he paused, to give her a straight-faced look, right in the eyes.

She was caught off-guard by the directness in his action, and fumbled. "I... don't...?" She looked at him again. He was smirking, though with a little less conviction than his usual.

And then it all clicked. "Oh!" She wrinkled her nose with distaste.

"Ye-ah." He started the car, the engine purring, and she thought to herself that this car was so very like him - sleek and dark and masculine and...

"But he's old!" she exclaimed, unable to keep her thoughts focused on something else.

"And creepy," Dark added.

"And..." Her jaw clenched involuntarily, and she blinked many times.

"Creepy?"

"Married. To a woman."

Dark raised his eyebrows and glanced over at Riku sitting frozen to the seat. And then he began to laugh.

The sound was so loud in the silence, and her first reaction was surprise. But his laugh was so smooth and golden and _real_ that she heard herself laughing too.

"Some people," Dark said between laughs, "Have such _issues_."

She could only feebly nod, her laughter dying down.

"He lectured me on flower arranging! _Flower arranging_! Who does that?"

Something about the way he said _flower_ and something about his face was so 'what-the-hell' that her laughter started up again.

She was still laughing when he spoke.

"I'm glad you said you'd come."

Her smile was fuelled by the laughter previous, and when she bestowed it on him the sight made him smile back. It was so happy, shining through her eyes.

He turned back to the road. "Even if your doorman is the creepiest guy on the planet."

She choked out another laugh. "And I'll decide if I'm glad later." She said it jokingly though, so he would know how she felt.

The silence that followed was comfortable, and as they zipped along the highway she didn't even think about how the rest of the evening would go. She simply stared ahead, her gaze drifting over to Dark occasionally.

He was in a black tuxedo, cuffs of his red shirt sticking out just the right amount. The front of his tux was unbuttoned to reveal that red shirt again, casual within not-so-casual. And his hair was just like it always was - wild, but not so wild that you would think he didn't comb it. The black and red and purple was all very easy on the eyes.

"Here we are," he said, an air of unintentional gusto in his voice. He aligned his car with the curb his first try, and helped her out onto the well-kept walk.

His hand held out to her was so very fairytale-like she wondered if it was real. This happened in movies and in novels, but not ever in real life. At least not in her version of real life.

She took it. "Thank you." She unfolded herself from the inside of the car.

"It's my pleasure," he replied in kind, and subtly managed to place her hand so that it was gripping his arm above his elbow. "Shall we?" He grinned, a blend of boyish charm and killer, oozing sex appeal. Hey, he made it work.

She smiled back at him. Though not exactly nervous, she knew it didn't look like a relaxed smile either.

They began walking, their footsteps falling into the same rhythm - right, left, right. Her heels clicked while his made duller clicks. His shoes were quite nice, actually. Black leather, not too square in the toe, and just shiny enough so that you could tell he didn't spit-shine.

"You wore red," he said to her, calling her out of her staring contest with the sidewalk, and had she been paying more attention, she would've heard the smirk in his voice.

She gave him her typical, you're-so-smooth response, "How observant of you."

"You're a mean one, Miss Riku. Had I known you were capable of this I would've asked out my aunt's clingy goddaughter," he tested her for her reaction.

"You probably should have. She'd dote on you like a maid to the god you think you are," she replied dryly, flicking his forehead with sudden boldness, feeling more like her regular self.

He grinned at this, closing his free hand over the hand she had on his arm. "But then I'd be denying myself the pleasure of having _you_ dote on me."

She levelled a half-menacing glare at him while trying to not twitch under his touch. Why was he doing that anyway? She didn't peg him the touchy-feely type.

They had reached the steps of the grand building by now, able to see through the huge ceiling-to-floor windows of the first floor. As they walked up the stone steps and people began to greet them (or more specifically, Dark,) his hand left hers. She felt colder just a fraction, and tightened her grip on his arm without knowing it.

He noticed immediately, turning away from the brother of some sponsor. "Hey, relax."

She sucked in a breath and looked over from the expensive looking chandelier. "I'm not?"

"You're not here for them," he told her, looking straight into her eyes. He was so close, she could feel herself smarting at his gaze. She couldn't hide when he looked right at her that way. And then--

"Dark!" The voice was indistinguishable. Riku couldn't really tell, but it was probably a boy. Or a girl. Definitely either a boy or a girl.

... She _really_ disappointed herself sometimes.

"Ah, Daisuke!" And Dark pulled away completely, turning around to greet his friend.

Riku felt a little silly standing there, her now-free arm dropping and hitting her side louder than it should have. She forced herself to turn around as well.

"Riku! This is Niwa Daisuke." Dark guided her gently with his left hand. "And Dai, this is Harada Riku."

"Harada, how do you do?" a young man greeted her, shaking her hand, which felt several degrees below zero. She wondered if Daisuke would recoil at her touch because of this, but of course he didn't.

"Perfect," she replied without thinking. Why was it that it always came back to this stupid, stupid word? "And yourself?"

"Great," he said, smiling big. His hair was a vivid shade of red, spiky and short. He looked terribly young, though he was probably only a year or two younger than herself.

"Dai's a diver. He's so short he doesn't make a splash!" Dark grinned, teasing.

"Hey! I'm not _that_ short!" Daisuke yelled, indignant.

"Right," Dark said, still grinning. Daisuke was nearly a head shorter than Dark himself. He pat Daisuke's head, emphasizing this fact.

"So Harada, what's your sport?" the redhead turned to Riku, admirably ignoring Dark's prodding.

"Oh, I'm not. I. I don't compete Olympics-wise," she haltingly replied. She licked her lips, trying to ignore her stuttering. She felt out of place already.

Dark slid a little closer to her. "She teaches swim classes. A good teacher, loves the kids." He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh! That's great! It's good teachers that make more kids want to make a career out of something, right?" Daisuke beamed. This guy was entirely too happy.

Riku shuffled at the flattery, and maybe a little at the contact Dark incited again.

"Absolutely," Dark replied in a beat. "We should get going. Still don't know where we're sitting."

Daisuke nodded, and lifted a hand to wave. "See you later, Dark. It was nice meeting you, Harada."

"Same," she gave a lack-lustre reply again, after looking up from her shoes. She managed a half-smile, and after Dark's goodbye, Daisuke melted into the crowd.

Dark's hand left her shoulder only to grip her hand. He led her around a group of older gentlemen, and they both entered the large room. It was outfitted with fancy tables draped with fancy tablecloths which featured fancy silverware.

"He's nice," she said absently. The area they were in was a lot less crowded now, but he hadn't let go of her hand.

"He's my cousin," Dark said, collar of his shirt flapping a bit from the breeze blowing through the room.

"Really?" she asked with genuine interest. "I thought you were..." She wanted to say _so different_, but then she remembered - Daisuke had red eyes too. And he had that strange brand of positivity Dark seemed to conceal. "... family."

"Yeah?" Dark looked happy at this and turned to her. "Most people just focus on how different we are."

She grinned, trying to hide the sheepish way she felt. He was looking at her that way again, as if unearthing something from beneath her surface.

She didn't know it, but in Dark's mind she had just proved again how she was just so different-wonderful. The things she noticed and said. He felt... grateful. Like... she understood him somehow, out of all the others who didn't.

"Thanks," he said next, surprising her.

She blinked at him pointedly. "For what?"

He swung his gaze away from her to a table filled with nameplates. "For... saying that. Thank you."

Her eyes reflected surprise tinged with sympathy, even though she didn't know he was grateful to her. She just felt... something. "I... you're welcome."

They both seemed at a loss for words, so they both focused their energies on finding where they were seated.

"Here," he said, and grabbed the folded rectangle of paper embossed with some sort of flowery design. "Mousy Dark and Harada Riku. Table one."

Did it really say her name on it? He'd asked her at the last minute... She caught sight of the card. In flowing, but unmistakable black script: _Dark Mousy and Guest_.

He began walking, her cue to follow. She looked at his handsome profile, those perfect red eyes just the slightest bit _off_, his mouth on the edge of neutral and... bothered.

She gulped inaudibly. She wasn't just... _guest_ to him. The magnitude of his action in replacing "Guest" with "Harada Riku" seemed so sweet to her, though just a small thing, second nature to him. And he was obviously irked by the way the organizers of this dinner, however unintentional it was, just seemed to write her off as unimportant. Was he sweet too? On top of everything else, was he a _nice_ nice guy? His concern, coupled with the weaker side he'd just shown her, made her breath catch in her throat.

Dark pulled out her chair. His eyes softened as he looked at her, telling her to sit. She did so. He pushed her chair in as she bent her knees, a true gentleman. He pulled out his own chair and sat down wordlessly.

"And who might this be?"

Riku looked up from not looking at the handle of her dessert spoon.

"Harada Riku," Dark said, and Riku couldn't help but hear it like he was reciting the name of someone he didn't know.

"Wonderful. Might you swim as well, like Dark?" Riku now registered the questions coming from an elderly gentleman across the table. He was clearly a veteran at the meet-and-greet game, beginning conversations like they'd been chatting all along.

"Yes, I do," she answered, unaware of a polite sweetness creeping into her tone.

"Watase Shin," the man bowed his head. "A delight to meet you, Miss Harada. Dark here is one of our top medalists, as I'm sure you're aware!" he chuckled.

She sipped her water, already waiting at the table. "Oh, all too well."

Dark cast her a sidelong glance. Wait, what was she saying? He didn't... brag or anything. Did he? She made him unsure of himself again.

"Yes, I suppose that would be hard to ignore, wouldn't it?" Shin chuckled again.

"Mm," was all she had to say in agreement. It really _was_ hard to ignore. He was too perfect for his own good.

The man turned away as a middle-aged lady began speaking to him. And then there were two.

Dark regarded her with composed eyes. "You never said you thought that of me."

'Yeah, well, you're pretty amazing,' was rising in her throat, and she bit her tongue to stop it from coming out of her mouth. She wondered, if she had said it, if it would have come out admiringly or sarcastically.

"I don't brag or anything, do I?" he asked, (forced?) light laughter layered somewhere in his words.

"Not in so many words," she replied. She hadn't meant to sound so snappy and disgruntled. Way to go, Riku. Ruin Dark's perfect evening.

She _had_ to stop using that word.

His eyes narrowed, more questioning than menacing. "What do you mean?"

She bit harder before releasing her poor tongue, now sore. "Nothing."

He thought back on that afternoon she had yelled at him, and the current situation seemed eerily familiar. This was more incidences with moody females than he had hoped to encounter in his lifetime.

Dammit. He wanted to apologize to her tonight, and now _another_ issue came up? This was all too much.

"Are you sure?" he asked, not wanting to pressure her.

She appeared to go through a moment of indecision, blinking at her plate. Could she tell him? "You're just so good at everything, I guess. You don't _say_ it..." She fiddled with her fingers. "I don't think you'd do that. But it sho--"

Suddenly, Dark's chair tilted forward, nearly slamming his chest into the edge of the table. "Oh sorry!" came a loud voice, jolting them both out of the moment.

Dark and Riku looked up to see a obnoxiously bright yellow dress and bleached blonde hair. The woman was smiling at them both (though mostly at Dark), showing off straight, very white teeth. Riku thought they might have glowed, were it darker in the room.

"Sorry for that," she said again, this time focusing entirely on the purple-haired swimmer. Riku thought darkly that she didn't seem very sorry.

"It's alright," Dark replied, not really in the moment.

"I don't think we've met." She transferred her champagne glass to her left hand, extending her right. "Hoshino Mikiko. And you are...?"

He inclined his head a little more to seem polite. Or to avert his gaze from her bust, which was three inches from his nose. Or to just indicate he was busy and not interested in blonde bimbos. Riku hoped the strongest for, without feeling even the tiniest hint of guilt, the latter.

He gestured to Riku. "Harada Riku." He gestured to himself. "Mousy Dark."

She couldn't help but feel... proud. Or grateful. Or _something_ for how polite and subtle and... _perfect_ he was. (She felt like a paradox or a hypocrite or one of those words Takeshi knew.)

Blondie nodded. "It's a pleasure."

When neither Dark or Riku made an attempt at conversation, she finally got the hint.

"Well! I'll just be... on my way. You... you both have a nice evening." And she backed away. Riku might have imagined it, but Blondie walked off with a limp, some sort of physical blow at her being rejected.

Dark rolled his eyes in the corner of her vision, and Riku gave a small chuckle. He knew she saw him, and smiled, the corners of his eyes would-be crinkling.

She bit the inside of her lip, not wanting to mess up her lip gloss. Even if Whatsherface left, the conversation was ruined. Would he want to pick up on it again?

Light, simple notes of a piano reached them from across a newly-noticed dance floor. The tiles were flecked gray, white and tuscan red, forming an emblem. How had she not seen that?

"Riku, I want to apologize."

She sucked in her breath sharply without realizing it. She exhaled half that breath when she inhaled suddenly all over again.

His thumb was on her wrist.

"That afternoon. I was just... blind." Words came harder to him now. He was normally such a master, knowing exactly what to say and when to say it and _how_ to say it. She didn't know, but she turned him a little upside down too. Sideways, maybe.

His touch was unnerving to her, of course. Despite having his hand on her nearly-bare shoulder and his fingers curled to hers, she had never felt so caught. The tip of his thumb moved back and forth over her skin. The motion was absentminded and innocent. She likened it to danger.

"You are right, and I don't know you." His irises were watery with purple, unfocused and unlike him. "And that's my fault. I haven't bothered to ask you the right Truths or look any further than those random facts."

"That's not true," she interjected.

He blinked with surprise, irises red again. He was at a loss.

"_I'm_ the one who's sorry. The things I said... they weren't true. You _do_ know me. Or at least more than I know you. And that's _my_ fault. I want to know _you_."

She didn't really say that. She wanted to, more than anything. But could she keep up with this, strange, damaging-to-her-self-esteem relationship or whatever it was? By saying that, she was telling him she wanted to stick by it.

And she did. But she also didn't. She was jumbled up beyond recognition, didn't know what was what anymore. All the straight answers were gone out the window, cryptic answer-questions replacing them.

She wanted to... know him? ... Be with him? When she asked herself if she wanted those things, her answer was a resounding 'yes'.

That 'yes' was followed by a multitude of questions. Was it worth all the confusion? Would it be worth it after a month? Two? Would she cry even more? Would Krad loom over her forever?

What was that strange, opposite directions tug that always twinged in her chest?

No matter what she did, no matter what _he_ did, she could never rid herself of that feeling. The kind that made her want to paddle to the edge of the ocean for either enjoyment or simply to exhaust herself so she could sleep. It was torture, feeling like this.

"Riku? What do you mean?" She hadn't said anything for awhile, just looked completely blank, and he was getting worried.

"I..." And she felt a spreading tingle travel her shoulders and upper back. "I don't know what I want to say," she lied.

Afraid. Always afraid. Disappointment in herself was magnified tenfold. It clenched her jaw, made her hand twitch.

He felt the twitch and stopped the movement of his thumb, all subconciously.

He could tell she was thinking. Easy to read, he'd told her. And now, he wanted to ask her what she couldn't tell him, but didn't want to try her patience. He didn't want to overstep again, so he said nothing.

The funny thing was, Riku _wanted_ him to do that. He was cautious of acting like he knew her, when all she wanted was for him to show it. They _weren't_ strangers. She thought back. Why did he recite her name that way, to that old man? Why did he pull away so fast to greet Daisuke? He _did_ know her, it was _her_ who didn't know him. He pulled away, when all she wanted was to pull him close. But then, what were those small touches? Running his thumb over her wrist, guiding her hand to take his elbow? Her mind almost started to whirl with confusion.

"Excuse me, I have to get some air," she uttered to the dessert fork, and got up from her chair. She took off surprisingly fast in her heels.

What was going on? "Riku!" He was confused confused _confused_. His chair fell over as he took off after her, ignoring shouts and glares.

She was lost to him in the crowd, the red of her dress simply gone.

Why? What had he done _now?_ Anger flared up in him, anger at himself, anger for not understanding her when he so desperately wanted to. He was trying. Never before had he worked this hard for a shot in the dark.

When he was finally out of the crowd, she was nowhere to be found.

Disappointment, confusion and _anger_ attacked him all at once. Each flooded him more completely than the last, and when they were done, he released them back to the nighttime sky by whispering her name.


	11. Be Brave Tonight

_Disclaimer: DN Angel isn't mine, and if it was I'd pair Dark with Riku right off the bat, and Satoshi with himself. That's right._

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: Everytime I include Satoshi in a scene I can't help but let him take over. I love the brat, I do. I also love Takeshi, can you tell? He's so bubbly and crazy and big brother-like, at least the way I see him. Here's a random thought: Satoshi and Takeshi are like ying and yang.  
**Anyways. **_Don't Tell_ gets its second last chapter. Everything builds up within this chapter. If you think the building up is fast-paced, think of how boring a whole chapter of no Riku/Dark action is. Yeah. So. Enjoy, readers, and as always I appreciate your thoughts.

--------

_"You're so good at everything, I guess. You don't say it... I don't think you'd do that. But it sho--"_

What was she going to say? More importantly, what was she _trying to say_?

Dark occupied the ominous armchair in his sitting room, staring out the window and thinking these thoughts.

He'd stuck it out at the dinner, though not very well by his standards. The evening was a wreck after _that_, his mind preoccupied with Riku. He'd been broody even when on stage to thank the companies willing to sponsor him in coming events. The audience clapped, but raised their eyebrows amongst themselves, and he felt foolish inside his ponderous state. That empty chair beside him didn't particularly help either. Or that stupid Mikiko girl who smirked at him as she left.

He sighed loudly now, breath coming out in a hurry.

Should he call her? Or was that just inviting abuse?

One of the largest questions, of course: Why did she run?

Did it have anything to do with what she said before that dumb girl came? Was it his apology? She sounded quite firm when she interrupted...

_"I haven't bothered to ask you the right Truths or look any further than those random facts." _

"That's not true."

And that was all he got. And all because he didn't want to push her a little. The possible consequences of asking her again what she meant were nothing compared to _this_. Sitting, thinking, feeling like his brain and heart were whirled together in a cyclone.

... So why didn't he ask now?

He found his suitjacket and fished out his mobile. He didn't have her number, so he called Satoshi.

"... Mmphfrrr. Hello."

"That's a nice noise."

On the other end of the line, the blue-haired young man mumbled some pretty unfriendly things away from the receiver. "Shut it. I was sleeping. Do you have any idea of the time?"

"Eleven twenty-eight. Now answer me this: do you have Riku's number?"

"You woke me up. For a girl's number." He would've cried if he were more awake and had functioning tear ducts. He was _pretty sure_ they worked ten percent of the time... but it was too late for him to care.

Hell, he wouldn't normally care anyway.

"Well, _do you_?" Dark was known for his stubbornness.

Satoshi whispered an 'Oh God' and rubbed an eyelash from his cheek. "No."

"Do you have Risa's?"

"You really like Riku, don't you," he stated more than asked. "Why aren't you calling Krad? He'll know."

Dark froze at realizing this. Krad. He almost forgot about him.

Okay, he sort of put up a mental block against the blonde bastard, but so what? Friend, Shmend. Krad had proved himself more of a nuisance than a comrade over the past... decade anyway.

Not to mention that he did mess Riku up. _Her try at love perfect. Love forever._

Satoshi would've smirked at this pause, but he was sleeping.

Dark cleared his throat to cover the lull in conversation, and bit back. "You're just trying to hide the fact that you _do_ have that Risa girl's number."

Satoshi stirred, Dark's voice in his ear. "Eh?" he said, mouth a few inches from the receiver.

"I know you two have something going on there. You dog..."

By now his eyes were open, but they narrowed again out of habit. He'd recognize that tone of voice anywhere. Especially if it was Dark. By some miracle he picked up on the conversation, managing to again avoid talk of Risa and himself. "You want her number," he said more than asked (again).

"If you'd be so kind," Dark clipped off Satoshi's words.

"Wait," came the sleepy command.

"Thought he'd have it memorized," Dark said under his breath.

"I heard that," the voice said faintly, indicating it came from a distance.

Dark merely pouted, though not with much effort.

Satoshi considered asking if Dark had a pen and paper, but decided he didn't care, not since Dark woke him up. And then he remembered Dark's scary memory. "590-2547."

"Gotcha. Thanks."

Before Dark could quickly sign off, Satoshi stopped him.

"How did the dinner go?"

He said nothing. How could he accurately describe how it went?

"Not well, I take it?"

"... For... the most part."

_Now_ he was awake. The blue-eyed man (- who was entirely capable of being an ass, as he was doing now, in Dark's humble opinion -) gave the verbal equivalent of raising his eyebrows through the telephone. His voice came out a teeny bit smug, the kind of tone any fangirl would faint at. "Really? Do tell."

And he relayed what had happened at the end of the evening, feeling like a girl gossiping. He skipped some of the little things - the stiffer walk she assumed when he touched her, for one. It just made his story sound even worse really, that much more capable of harbouring pity.

Satoshi 'hmm'ed in his way, maybe a little sympathetically. As if he had expected it.

"What's the other part of the story?" his friend prodded.

He began hesitantly, "Well... the ride there was great. We talked." His shortage of words stunted his sentences. "It was going great. We joked and stuff."

He wondered how to tell Satoshi about the Daisuke comment. He wondered _if_ he should tell Satoshi. It just seemed so... unlike him to just toss something as sensitive like that out there. But it was on his mind, and Dark wasn't the type to hide.

"She met Daisuke. She said what you said. That we seemed like..."

--------

Oh. God. What had she done.

This thought repeated itself through her head from the second she had left the dinner to now. It had played like a broken record all through her chasing the bus down, the ride home, and when she stripped away the dress, shoes, jewellery. Who she wasn't.

She found things to do to not think. It was useless. She thought of it anyway and messed up what she was doing. She already had a small burn from accidentally touching her kettle. Her hair had tangled for about five minutes when she tried to yank the tie from her hairstyle. She'd run her shoulder stupidly into her doorframe, slamming her collarbone.

So now she had physical injuries to match her emotional ones. Great.

She sank to the ground with her back to the wall and a cup of tea in hand. Of course, she hurt her shoulderblade as she did so.

She had messed up. Again.

Why did she always do this? She always did the wrong thing. With Krad it was holding on. With Dark, it was bolting. Why could she never do the right thing? Or at least the thing that _felt_ right.

This was a thousand times worse than anything she could've dreamed. There was no question about it now. He wouldn't want to see her. She gave herself a moment to let this sink in.

She shook her head, shook it from her mind. She didn't even know _why_ she ran. Why did she do that? It was a sort of flight response. It was too hot in the room? She didn't even believe herself at this point--

_Of course you know why,_ she told herself. _You know. But you won't say._

If she kept on like this, her tea would get salty.

She sat and sipped in her slippers, the pain and confusion too heavy for her heart.

She fell asleep before the call came.

_"Riku, It's Dark. We need to talk. Please, call me back."_

--------

The following monday, Riku wasn't there. It seemed she'd phoned in with a curt tone and a brief explaination - "If it could be called an explaination," said Mariko, ever-irate - and that was that. The general reaction was either astonishment or indifference - she hadn't missed a day yet. The day carried on as normal, instructors subbing in for her. They discussed her health - didn't she seem a bit under the weather lately?

Others knew better though. Takeshi was one of them.

"Hey," it was barked, command-like.

"Saehara." Dark nodded, ignored Takeshi's tone and kept on walking. His mind was on Riku... she hadn't called him back.

Takeshi wouldn't play his game. "Hey, what happened to her?" he yelled. His concern was obvious in his posture, leaning far over the counter of his stand with his hands on the surface, elbows at right angles. His face was a storm in the making.

Dark recognized this. He chose to reverse his previous steps and keep the storm in check. He didn't really know how to answer, just knew he should keep wiseass comments at bay. He didn't know how close Takeshi and Riku were.

"I know it has something to do with you," Takeshi said more quietly once Dark drew near. The rarely used frown strained his face. "She's not sick."

_Maybe she is though,_ Dark thought to himself. _Sick of me._

He came up to the counter and spoke, not wanting to give the impression of insulting Takeshi. But what tumbled out was unexpected. "She ran."

The aspiring journalist's eyes grew wide, his mouth widening to form a poorly formed 'o'. "She... _what?_"

"She ran from me." His eyes fell to his fingers atop the polished counter. If anyone were to pass by, they'd assume from his casual stance that the two were discussing something... not so sensitive.

Now Takeshi's eyes grew soft. "She what? She ran?" his voice went from fifty decibels to five.

"Yeah," Dark said over his tightening throat. "She ran out. From the dinner." _From me._ It almost hurt too much to think.

Takeshi almost spoke then, but kept his mouth shut. Something didn't add up. Riku liked Dark. She'd even confessed this to Takeshi herself. Then again, she was feeling pretty rocky about the whole thing, or that's what Takeshi concluded from their talk. He saw that, and knew her better than even she herself did sometimes.

Riku was a smart girl. Too smart sometimes. She knew what could hurt her well in advance, and avoided it with vehemence. When that didn't work, she put up walls.

She hadn't done that with Dark. Or at least, not when Takeshi expected her to. He should've guessed this would happen sooner or later.

She was smart. But oh! She could be so _stupid_. She couldn't see that sometimes, what you need to do is let yourself be hurt. Because whatever hurts can also heal a million times over.

"She runs a lot," Takeshi said with conviction.

The purple-haired man looked up from a daze, eyes questioning. "What..."

"I'll tell you something about Riku." Takeshi locked eyes with Dark. His were clear, whereas Dark's were tranced.

"Sometimes, you have to chase her. Chase her for all you're worth." Here he paused, let Dark absorb this. He looked up at the ceiling-high windows, morning light streaming in, and he almost felt it stream into himself. Dark kept on looking at Takeshi looking out the window.

Takeshi nearly whispered now, eyes steady. "Other times, you stand still. Stay, and slowly, she comes." His eyelids slid shut. "That's how she is."

It was quiet for a long time. Takeshi stood at the counter with his eyes closed, somehow casting a spell and leaving the two of them completely alone. Machines turned slush in their containers and people shuffled past. Then Dark spoke. His voice was scratchy, like a racer who had just run a hundred miles.

"I'll have a banana nutmeg smoothie."

Takeshi opened his eyes. He turned around, wiping his hands on the apron at his waist. "Good choice."

--------

Riku's flight stayed on both their minds through the month and into the next. She didn't bother to check her phone or keep up with the news. She stopped speaking in volumes to anyone, aside from Risa. Even then, it wasn't a lot. She was a blip, doing only what was needed and then disappearing. Her life became narrow, unspectacular. She never received Dark's message.

She was convinced that Dark was angry at her, and he was. She could see it in him - that is, when she found the courage to look at him. Which was always when he couldn't see her looking.

It was true, he was angry. He had called her and she never called back. He tried to pull her aside, but she dodged everytime. He didn't start out mad. The anger had grown slowly, small and sinister and in the background. He didn't remember it at first when he thought of her. But soon it was all he could see.

He wouldn't stop trying. He'd find out what had happened. It didn't matter that a month had passed, that it should have blown over. Because it wasn't. He didn't _want_ it to. He'd nurse it for as long as he needed. With those good memories, with his confusion, with his hurt. With whatever it took.

Somewhere down the line, sometime in the second last week of August, Riku realized it couldn't go on this way. She'd run and run and it'd gotten her nowhere. She didn't want to be here. Where she wanted to be was back in the clear with Dark.

She told herself the entire teaching day that she'd talk to Dark. Why he still came to the pool made no sense to her at all, but she realized she shouldn't take it for granted. Still, she couldn't push herself to speak. _Afraid, afraid. Always afraid._

It was in the parking lot that she got her chance. The air was crisp and the sky was dark with stars. She took the back way out of the pool - as was now her routine - to get to the bus stop. They'd literally run into one another, her gym bag strap bouncing off her shoulder.

Naturally, he caught her.

Unnaturally, he let go in a millisecond.

After all of this, he'd finally get a chance to speak to her. But it was then that she opened her mouth--

"Dark..."

-- and he snapped.

How could she treat him like this? How could she go on like this and not care about what they'd had? How could she just ignore him, act like he wasn't worth her time? He'd... cared for her. Found her closer and dearer to him than he could've ever possibly imagined... and now, _now_ she wanted to talk to him?

She said what he'd dread. "I want... to talk. With you."

He took a deep breath. His face was disbelieving, he didn't care if she saw. "What about?"

"I..." she lost her nerve, mumbled to her shoes. "I... I don't know."

She doesn't _know_? His disbelief was the most dangerous kind, that blend of cocky angriness. "You don't know what you want."

"I do know... that I want to expl--"

"Do you know I've been trying to talk to you for four weeks? _Four weeks_, Riku." Here he looked away, distanced himself. "And you wouldn't even look at me. Is it so much to ask to talk to you?"

"No!" she sounded pleading, her answer to his implied leaving. She winced at what he'd said. It only hurt because it was true. "No, it's not a lot, I just didn't want to then. I didn't know... what I wanted from you... what I wanted from mysel--"

"So what _do_ you want? Because I'm getting pretty damn confused here, Riku," he half-spat. His eyes flashed, the red she'd found so beautiful sparking with anger.

"I just--" The wind annoyingly blew her hair all over, and she blinked many times in the hopes it would simply go away. "I just want you to act-- I just--"

"Do you want to start all over again? Is that it?"

"No! I liked this. _Like_ this. All of it." She meant this, she really did. The night he spun her and dipped her and shared his shirt with her. The time he untangled her from the stupid phone cord. The times he let her cry and clutch him. Though each moment was unique, they all struck her as incredibly romantic and a terrible waste on her cynical self.

"Really?" He was standing perpendicular to her now, but he held her eyes. He could sear her with that gaze. "Because I get the feeling that you don't. What's _wrong_, Riku? Is it not enough?"

Her chest threatened to burst. It held all her hopes and fears. _No, it's not that,_ she wanted to say, but she couldn't (wouldn't) let herself say it. _Afraid, afraid. Always afraid. To get her heart's desire, or to not get it._

The expression on his handsome face was heartbreaking. "I guess not." The words were heavy leaving his lips. He was sad beyond anything he'd ever felt, but he was running on angry adrenaline right now. His legs made his decision for him. They led him away.

"I just," she whispered uselessly. There were too many thoughts whirling around her head, and she grasped for one of them.

"I just want to know you like you know me," the words made it into the air, punctuated with his footsteps. It was said so quietly she couldn't be sure if it made its way to him, but there was no way to tell, as he walked on, away from her, and into the night.


	12. Our Truth

_Disclaimer: D N Angel belongs to Yukiru Sugisaki._

**Don't Tell Anyone, But...**

Sakura-Angel: Here it is! Holy crap, am I ever excited. I am a little sad, yes, but finishing this story feels more like an accomplishment for me than a sad goodbye. I have enjoyed writing every bit of this story, and all of you readers have made the experience better. Thank you.  
That said, read on, and enjoy.

--------

After Dark had left her in the parking lot, Riku knew she wouldn't sleep that night. She tried desperately, but her bed seemed to know her plight and set up lumps in every available space. Her blankets wound too tight in fitful minute-bursts of rest, waking her. The part of the pillow beneath her head emptied itself frequently. Her sheets unstuck themselves from tucked-in corners and tangled her feet.

Over toast and orange juice the next morning, Riku conferred with herself. The decision was unanimous: buy new bed crap.

She was barely awake as it was, but she couldn't help but think that if she'd resolved it with Dark, she would've slept like a baby.

Oh come on, who was she fooling? She'd have been too excited to sleep probably. While he was probably curled up on his mattress, inhaling that secret smell she never got the chance to place her finger on. Dark in his bed as the light fell over his lips slightly parted-- 

Oh. No. Bad Riku. That was not a rabbithole she wanted to go down.

This further convinced Riku of her stupidity. She was still so taken with him that she could think of him in a lovelorn fashion, not even considering what had happened last night...

She was going to depress herself like this.

Before she could moan into her orange juice, the phone rang. She plunked a hand down on the handset.

"Hello?"

"Oh no. What happened?"

She loved and hated Risa for her natural ability to read her mood. Right now, she didn't know what she felt, nor did she care. "You interrupted my breakfast."

"I think it's safe to say that since you're not having breakfast with him, it's not a terrible thing."

This comment, which would normally have made Riku blush fiercely, made her slouch and groan into the crook of her elbow. The phone hung limply from her right hand, not even to the side of her face by this point.

Still, the groan seemed to carry through the receiver. "Oh no. Something _did_ happen. Riku. Riku!"

"He hates me," she said into her sleeve. Hearing it, her tears gathered quick in her eyes. She placed the phone down, the receiver up, to free her hand. She buried her face in her bent arm, not even wanting her empty kitchen to see her tears. "Oh, Risa. He just... I didn't even do anything..."

Risa wished she could pour sympathy through a phone. "Oh 'Ku... was it really--"

"So bad," Riku said with miserable decisiveness. She was fighting with herself - no, don't cry, don't sob, don't tighten that throat. "After... all that time. We talked. We talked, and he was mad. And it's no wonder! I was such a... such a bitch to him..." 

"No, you weren't--"

"I was! I know I was!" Her nose leaked, the skin around her eyes was moist and cold. "He walked away from me, and I couldn't even..." - somehow, her eyes produced more tears - "I didn't even call out. Didn't even ask him to stay," her voice lowered itself to a whisper, "When that was all I needed."

All she could hear was static.

"God, what kind of a person am I?"

And then she hung up, afraid of hearing an answer. 

--------

Dark did not wake up that morning. In fact, he had not slept.

"You look terrible," Satoshi told him.

"Thanks," he thanked Satoshi.

"Bagel?" the younger man asked Dark, didn't listen for an answer, then proceeded to ask the cashier for a cinnamon swirl and a poppyseed. 

They shuffled along the counter to wait for their coffee. Satoshi seemed almost happy that morning, too distracted by something to read his paper.

"What's up with you?" Dark yawned, not caring enough to cover his mouth, and so flashed a mouthful of teeth and a pink tongue.

"I took myself off the night shift. Permanently."

"One black coffee, one double-double!" an employee yelled, clearly too hyped up on coffee herself.

"How nice for you," Dark yawned again, reaching for his 'two sugars two creams'. Just for today, he'd soften the mixture. He led the way to the back half of the café, dragged out a chair, and sat down. His bagel hung out of his mouth by a half-bite, but he was honestly past caring what he looked like. 

Satoshi seemed to read this. "You have crumbs on your coat," he said, testing Dark.

Dark's response was to chew more vigorously.

"So," Satoshi said with a mild interest, the way he said most things, "I take it something has happened with Miss Harada?"

Purple blurred in Satoshi's vision. A small nod of the head, some scritchy noises with a plastic knife and butter. As if it was all hardly noteworthy. 

Dark worked the butter over the bite of bagel that was not there. He speared a raisin in his bagel with the knife. He glared at it, half-mumbled half-said, "Who thought of putting raisins in bagels anyway?" And did not look up at Satoshi.

"So I can also take it that you're not telling me what happened?" 

Dark stopped buttering his cinnamon-but-not-supposed-to-be-raisin bagel. He peered at Satoshi with a red eye, supposedly scrutinizing how much his friend really deserved to know this information. Naturally, Satoshi did not react. They were both at a stalemate for awhile, but Dark didn't feel like chess.

"She spoke to me." He broke their stare and went back to scraping butter along his bagel. "I wish this place had cream cheese."

"An event that I thought would have more bearing on you," his blue-eyed confidante intoned, obviously being his subtle kind of snarky.

"Ohshutup," Dark said under his breath.

Satoshi's chin was cupped in his hand now, elbow to the table. He slouched to combat Dark's slouch, and they met eye-to-eye. "I do give advice, you know. You just have to tell me."

"I was a jerk, okay?" he bit at the end of Satoshi's sentence, anger bubbling at medium heat. His fatigue was the only buffer between himself and a near-blowup. The knife clattered dainty plastic. "I was an ass to her. She tried to speak to me. I was pissed, and I _walked away_." His hand landed on the table loudly, not quite a slam. His chin jutted out as he spoke these words, as if daring someone to say otherwise. Eyes flashing empty.

Satoshi sipped his black coffee.

Dark shook his head now, at himself, at the utter stupidity of the entire situation. "I _was_ mad. I am mad." His expression said he was sad. "But damn, if she knew how much I wish she was here..." His fingertips pinched the skin between his eyebrows. 

Satoshi did his version of scooting forward in his chair. He waited, not biting into his bagel or drinking his coffee or even _breathing_ it seemed. Then it came. "Advice?"

Dark held his hand out, as if he could physically palm it. "Please." 

"Don't listen to anyone but yourself."

"Taking that advice would mean listening to you."

"That doesn't count."

The swimmer pinched a little harder, and wondered, just to get his mind a _tiny bit_ off of her, if his skin would sag because of so much pinching. "Right."

They sat, and sighed (Dark), and sipped (Satoshi, Dark had lost his appetite).

"I'm going to go home."

"You're sure," said Satoshi, sounding as indifferent as ever. Right now, Dark was grateful for that. Everything else seemed so charged with emotion, he could've hugged Satoshi for this. But that would be expressing emotion.

"Yeah. I need to sleep. Not think." 

"Good luck."

Dark knew he meant it, and left the coffeehouse, running his hands over his face. He'd purposely walked today, no car. He might fall asleep at the wheel. At least this way, he wouldn't injure anyone. If he did, there'd be guilt and fines galore. (He filled his head up with psychobabble like this, to keep his mind away from her.)

Once the lock turned and he hit his empty apartment though, there was no avoiding it.

He boiled a kettle of water. Took out a tea bag. Wild sweet orange something. The same stuff he'd had with her. He'd avoided it for the past month, not even looking at it in his cupboard.

He sat down at his kitchen table.

What did it take to make something work? Was there some sort of checklist, some sort of compatibility test you took?

What happened when something didn't work? Like this. There were good times, beautiful times. But there were blowouts, hard times, ugly ugly ugly times. Could you weigh them out? The good against the bad?

He wondered and wondered and wondered. The kettle whistled, steam rising. He moved mechanically, pour, dunk, stir. Sit. Sip.

It was just as the tea hit his lips that he figured it out. It burned a little, the first few layers of skin, but he could not lift it away because he was having an epiphany.

There was no math. None at all. Because what it took to make something work was what they had been doing all along. The laughing, the crying, the dancing, the running, the fighting. It worked. How had he not seen that?

Now all they needed was the making up.

--------

Sometimes, when she wanted to think, Riku would take a walk to a park.

Sometimes, when she wanted to not think, she would take a walk to the park.

Right now, when she wasn't sure what she wanted, she took a walk to the park.

It was the big city park, bursting full of semi-exotic blooms. The paths were paved, not dirt, the ground was flat, not almost-flat. She hadn't danced there in low heels. But whatever. 

She turned onto a large path which led directly to an elaborate water system. A mini waterfall flowed from who-knew-where into a little basin. Lilies floated on the surface. She'd told Dark she liked lilies. Her collarbone complained, and her skin showed the bruise.

She settled herself on the edge of the little pond, facing away from the main path. She couldn't really deal with other people right now, and the less she saw of them, the better. As she sat, she remembered that she'd also told Krad she'd liked lilies. 

It was just too much. There was so much that had happened recently that it lay above the surface, refusing to sink in. Her fear sat stubbornly on top of her, crushing. She was immoblie.

A couple months was all it took to turn her upside down. As long as you were a champion swimmer and could dance a mean foxtrot and probably fell from Mount Olympus, it wasn't hard.

She felt listless. So when someone sat next to her, she hardly reacted.

"Miss Harada."

"Doctor."

Satoshi smiled a little at this. He knew she wouldn't start, so he did. "I suppose I don't need to ask how you are."

She summoned a weak smile somewhere from the soles of her feet. "No, it's kind of a given, huh?"

"He messed up," he said surely. Whether this was his opinion or not was unsure, however. She rebuked him anyway.

"No, it was me. I had to run that night. I started it all." _Afraid. Afraid. Always afraid._

"You know this... for certain?" his voice was serious.

She slouched further. "Yes," it felt like the only straight answer she had given in a long time.

He leaned backwards on the ledge on the pond. A rueful smile formed on his lips, and he seemed to clench his jaw behind it. He switched gears completely. Or maybe he didn't. "It is so stupid, what people do to themselves because they're afraid."

Her breath cut itself off abruptly. What...? She looked up at him from behind shameful eyelashes, and knew he had read her in so much as a few stories, a chance encounter. She was tense over what he might say. Oh, please don't, she silently asked of him.

"It's not about what's right or wrong. It's not about how much you know. It's not about anything else but you and him."

Her initial shock at his speaking so much died away. She wanted to protest, no, there's more to it than that.

"It's not that complicated," he read her mind.

"But," she said before she could think, "It'll be... hard."

He surprised her then, let out a small, short laugh. "No one ever said it wouldn't be." And then he trained his eyes on her, ice blue and hard and beautiful. Their intensity reminded her of Dark. "But you have to get out of it. Only _you_ can fix what you've done out of fear. Because even if you reconcile, you won't be happy with yourself."

She knew he was right. She shifted her weight from off her arms. "I have to go think."

He seemed to approve and nodded. He told her with certainty, "Everything balances itself out in the end."

She absorbed this. She had just stepped onto the path that would lead out of the park when she thought of something. She whirled around, glad to see him still sitting on the edge of the basin. "Satoshi! Can I ask you something?"

He looked up slowly, nodded.

"Were you ever friends with Krad?"

His answer came to her on the breeze. "No."

And she left for home, his words telling her truths.

--------

She had been sitting at her desk for over an hour now.

She gulped, thinking and thinking and possibly overthinking. She thought of him.

He thought of her. He bit down hard on nothing, as if it would resolve this whole thing.

He got up out of his chair with unintentional gusto and promptly left his apartment. He was headed for the park.

She was headed for the park. She had thrown on a pair of jeans and a nice shirt, barely checking her reflection in the hall mirror before closing the door without much care.

She ran. She knew it wouldn't do much for her appearance, but she did it for her mind. She needed to get there as fast as she could.

He got there as fast as he could. He booked it to the park, a modest stretch of grass paired with two swings and a bench. The landscape was near-perfect, the kind that a person in say, low heels could walk on.

He felt this need, this pull for the park where they had danced. Where they had shared so much, thoughts and feelings, embraces, twirls. And he couldn't deny that he hoped he'd find her there. Maybe it was irrational, maybe it was crazy to think this. But who could say the past few months he had with her weren't?

She arrived to find a man sitting on the lone bench in the park. She took a deep breath in, summoning the courage not to cry at the sight of him.

"Hey."

He turned at her voice. She was here.

"Hey."

She moved to sit next to him, making sure they wouldn't touch.

"Nice shirt," he commented, noting the nice black material, four sizes too big for her and one too small for him.

"Thanks," she replied, and tugged at a cotton cuff.

"I'm sorry," he said, quick and sincere, as if scared that she would leave again. It was funny though, because he knew she wouldn't.

"I am too. I'm not even sure how to say it... how sorry I am for--"

"You don't need to. I know."

They weren't facing each other entirely yet. They were both turned a little inwards, so they could see something other than each other to ground them. They couldn't get lost in each other again. At least, not the way they had before. Both their minds had cleared now, no more hesistation. Just meeting like this had lifted so much away. All of this was felt. It didn't need to be expressed.

In the silence, a question niggled at Dark. His eyes followed the path a few petals made through the air. "Can I ask you something?"

She breathed in sharply, but she knew this would come. "Yes."

"What did you mean? That night at the dinner?"

She gazed into the middle distance. "Before that girl interrupted?"

He nodded, and liked it that she had caught up with his thoughts so quickly.

She went on, "I was saying that you were. Everything. You were just... perfect." She was past feeling embarassed about saying what she thought of him.

He raised an eyebrow at her, getting them back to basics. "I'm flattered that you think so. But... that's a problem?"

"Yes!" she couldn't help but exclaim. She leaned forward on the bench. "I just felt like... nothing in comparison." Her eyes glazed over with a touch of melancholy sadness.

She was jolted out of her psuedo-reverie by his chuckle. She noticed his fingers tracing the cuff of her (his) shirt. "Riku... I am far from perfect. Haven't I proved that to you already?"

She smiled at this. 

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Her smile froze, and she had to work up the courage to leap again. She gave herself a little while, because she knew he would wait. "... I was afraid."

His hand was on top of hers now. It seemed infinitely warmer than hers, the skin of his palm soft, his touch gentle. His eyes rested on their hands. (Those eyes that had seemed so perfect now revealed a hint of fraility, and she couldn't decide if this was better or worse than before.) "What were you afraid of?"

She turned her hand so their palms touched, and she felt brave for doing it. At this, he looked up. "You."

He seemed startled by this, but the look on his face faded into awe at what she did next.

She kissed him on the cheek, quick and chaste. She had to stretch a little more to speak in his ear, "But I'm not anymore."

He smiled. His smile reached all the way up to his red eyes, and as she pulled away and saw them, she thought, not for the first time, that they were indeed beautiful. 

"Dance?"

And they both stood up, hand-in-hand, to twirl and sway each other across the grass.

After the first twirl, Dark said, "My favourite drink is tea from the almost-bottom of the pot."

She spun back to him, the fabric of her (his) shirt swishing on her small frame. She just kept that same smile on her face - that same small, constant turning up of the lips. He went on.

"I wanted to become a veterinarian when I was younger." He thought a little more. "I hate the taste of artificial cherry."

She looked down at the hem of his (his) shirt, and knew that that night in the parking lot he had heard her. He was granting so many of her wishes, all at once. "Go on."

"I can play the cello. Not very well, mind you..."

She leaned her cheek against his collarbone, her head turned so that he could smell her hair. She moved her fingers a little in his grasp, settled in and got comfortable. They moved in a slow circle.

"My greatest fear is losing," - here he stopped to look at her - "Someone I love."

She turned her face up to him, that constant smile a little quirked. "Are you saying you love me, Dark Mousy?"

He grinned wolfishly. "What do you think?" 

This made her smile even more, and she lifted one of her hands from his and slung her arms around his neck. She loved how he touched her waist. "Is that what love is, then?"

"Feeling right in your heart... that you're absolutely miserable? Yes," he laughed, and she laughed with him.

"It's also wonderful," she said, and he mm-ed his agreement, pressed their foreheads together.

"You know what?" she said again, and made him open those eyes of his.

"What?" 

"You don't have to be afraid of losing me." They moved still, though much, much slower.

"You know, on some level... I don't think I ever was. We're too much for that." 

She loved that idea. "Is that what love is, then?" 

And as they danced their own dance to no rhythm but each other, he answered their most important truth. "Yes." 

--------

"Riiiikuuuu!"

She whipped around at the call of her name, hair flying into her mouth. Plbbftt. 

"Hey!" her twin pulled up beside her and Dark, hands entwined, in the parking lot. She was looking _quite_ happy in a white car. Satoshi, sitting shotgun in his own car, looked considerably less so.

"Hey, Risa. Satoshi," she cocked her head to the side in a friendly way, to greet the harder-to-see Satoshi. He nodded back. She thought about him that day in the park, and how she really owed him one.

"Hello, Dark," Risa smiled at him. She was possibly more ecstatic than Riku herself that Riku and Dark had _finally_ gotten together. 

"Hi, Risa. Satoshi, can I talk to you for a second?" Dark nodded towards some collection of shrubbery near the sidewalk. Satoshi complied and got out of the car.

Once the guys had walked a fair distance away, her sister turned to her. "So, how are you? Great, I take it?" Risa asked, sly tones back in her voice more than ever.

"Pretty much," Riku beamed at her sister, then let out a shy laugh. "I'm totally..." she trailed off, turning to look at Dark. He was so great today... he had tea waiting this morning, and kissed her on the forehead about a bajillion times. Takeshi teased and catcalled so much, they teamed up to make him feel guilty about it so now he owed them ten smoothies each. She thought about the pool - Atsuro was a little awkward today... God, how long ago had _that_ fiasco been?

"Admiring your man, huh?" Risa grinned up at Riku. "I guess I can't blame you. He _is_ a complete hottie--"

"Hey! Stick to your own guy!" Riku's eyes flashed with delight while she ignored Risa's protests. She laughed loudly and fully these days, and her laugh carried across the lot to Dark and Satoshi.

"She's not my girl," Satoshi said flatly against a conspiring Dark. 

"Oh, and you think I can't see how much you _want_ her to be?" Dark smiled at his friend, thoroughly enjoying this. 

Satoshi's response to this was silence. There was no response, really. No response to such a ridiculous, ill-contrived, uh, silly... lie.

Dark shook his head at his friend's denial. They'd need to carry out The Plan. Those two needed to be _shoved_ together. Desperate times call for desperate measures...

"Riku!" Dark called, and waved his hand in a signal.

"Got it!" she called back, and promptly opened the driver's door to Satoshi's car.

As Dark broke out into a run, leaving a confused Satoshi behind, Riku was just forcing her sister out of her seat. They both closed the car doors with such speed, Risa and Satoshi were both left speechless.

"Go, go!" Dark laughed, as Riku revved the engine and got her bearings. Risa was starting to look angry... 

"I'm going, I'm going!" she laughed in return, her hand on the gearshift. "Risa's going to _kill_ me!" she giggled, giddy.

Dark rested his hand on top of hers with casual ease. "Drive, slowpoke!"

And they sped out of the parking lot, partners in crime.

Dark and Riku... they could wait, hesitate, and falter all they wanted. They could circle each other, deny themselves the other, hide from the truth. But they'd tried that. And the thing was, they were so much better at this. Riku and Dark, Dark and Riku. There was no math in involved. There was no need for fear. Be it through a simple magic, a spilling of secrets, or an undeniable chemistry, they had found each other. They just _were_, and that was the best thing in the world. 

Because the bare truth of it was this: they were great together. And that was all they needed.

-----

_fin._


End file.
